In a finely wrought third novel from Gadol (The Mystery Roast, 1992, etc.), a young man whose longtime lover has recently died of AIDS tries to rebuild his life in a remote southern California canyon. After his lover dies, Brad Gray drifts from Manhattan to California, house-sitting his way across the country until, outside of Los Angeles, he finds a long-term gig at the top of Encantado Canyon. Aimless even before his lover's death, his one vague reason for heading West had been to drown himself in the Pacific, but once in California, he becomes fascinated by a young married couple he spies across the canyon. By themselves, Helen and Ethan Zayne are rebuilding the house they lost in a Ventura fire the year before. Inevitably, Brad is drawn to the two, who not only lost their home but, shortly before that, their three-year-old son. Having once aspired to be an architect himself, Brad winds up pitching in to help the Zaynes build a house that could save their marriage: ``It was the only way for them to get their life back, to reconstruct it themselves, with their own hands.'' And by working with the Zaynes, the still-grieving Brad gives himself a chance to rise from the ashes. In the telling, Gadol weaves together images of reconstruction and regeneration—of the land, buildings, and peoplein prose that's at its most evocative and powerful in describing the scarred landscapes and the subtle interplay that takes place among the damaged characters. All three have self- destructive tendencies, and, even as they're house-building, they're only a splinter away from torching their salvation. In a summer of record heat, Helen and Brad further jeopardize their lives by breaking into other houses simply to be in air conditioning. And when the fire season flares up again, all three are literally forced to choose between life and death. A multi-storied, strongly written novel of loss and renewal.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-312-14084-3
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Picador
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1995
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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