A nuanced examination of the prison system and those affected by it.
A young man is incarcerated for child molestation in Valdes’ enlightening novel about the flawed prison system.
Joey Wilson, 23, is serving an eight-year sentence at LA County State Prison. He’s in for molesting a 13-year-old girl, and, rather than being sheltered in the Sensitive Needs Yard, where child molesters typically go, he has chosen to tough it out amid the general population. After introducing Joey, Valdes seamlessly examines a cast of characters that includes LB Legrand, Joey’s repentant cellmate; Buck Wilson, Joey’s father, a prison guard and ex-boxer whose dreams were crushed by a knee injury; Eddie Grisholt, an older guard who has no “tolerance for the cuddly style” that’s being ushered in; Dr. Byron Gardner, a prison psychiatrist who genuinely cares for his patients and suffers bitter disappointment when they regress; Leroy Cadenas, an inmate who had a difficult childhood and who’s recruited by Grisholt to jump Joey and Legrand. These characters’ hopes and dreams swirl together—Will Legrand find his daughter? Will Leroy reconnect with sex worker Tiara, whom he loved? Will Buck forgive Joey?—and the author asks readers to care for them, no matter who they are or what they’ve done. Valdes writes knowledgeably of the prison system, including references to “marriage chrono,” the visitation process, and strip searches with the command, “cough! cough! cough!” By wheeling through the large cast of characters, Valdes shows us the range of people involved in and affected by the incarceration system. Each character—whether a guard, a psychiatrist, or a prisoner—is flawed, and Valdes examines the thin line that separates prisoner from free man. Occasionally, the characters feel rote—the wise, African-American prisoner; the guard with something to prove; the good doctor—and the story veers toward manifesto at times. However, the subject matter is sufficiently engaging that readers may forgive some flaws.
A nuanced examination of the prison system and those affected by it.Pub Date: Dec. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9793558-5-1
Page Count: 349
Publisher: Editorial Madruga
Review Posted Online: Feb. 10, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
