Thin and thinly written tale of second chances.
The travails of a newly single mother.
It never rains but it pours: Kennedy Smith’s selfish husband, Frank, has decided to become a yoga teacher and give up his lucrative law practice. And he’s dating his high school flame, Sunny the surfer, who’s sporting a big diamond only four months after Kennedy and Frank’s separation. The kids are upset: Amanda, five, refers to her father as a “dickhead”; and her half-sister Maya, fifteen, has decided to search for her biological father, Marco Rivera, even though she’s heard all about his problems with drugs. He and Kennedy split up years ago, and Kennedy would just as soon Maya not try to find him, but the stubborn daughter pooh-poohs her objections. Still, Kennedy has other things to worry about, like taking Frank’s Brooks Brothers suits to the Goodwill. And then? Living in the imaginary suburb of Homewood, outside of New York, just hasn’t prepared her for anything like this. Frank handled all the hard stuff, like highway driving, though Kennedy did sometimes take the Volvo as far as the nearest mall. And then there’s money. Her lifelong friend Jeannie offers her minimum wage in her adorable-thingies boutique, but Kennedy can’t meet her expenses selling tulips and dishcloths. So? Well, a pilgrimage to former haunts in the East Village might turn up Marco—and is it possible that McGlynn’s, the neighborhood bar owned and managed by her former flame, is still there? And are those the brawny biceps of Declan McGlynn as he pulls a pint of Guinness? The studly Irishman is right where she left him, the pub reassuringly ungentrified, still the kind of place where everybody knows your name—sort of like everybody knows the rest of this plot. Has Declan grown up enough to make a commitment? Will Marco bond with the daughter he abandoned? Will Kennedy find the happiness she seeks?
Thin and thinly written tale of second chances.Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-7434-6354-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Downtown Press/Pocket
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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