A philosophically searching but overly moralistic tale.
In this fourth installment of a fictional series based on a true story, a teenage Egyptian experiencing a crisis of faith undertakes a meditative pilgrimage.
In 2015, nearly two dozen Coptic Christians were taken hostage by the Islamic State group in Egypt and summarily executed. There was only one survivor, Mekhaeil Zacharias, a 16-year-old whose life was spared in order to become a living testament to the band’s unmerciful intent. In the aftermath of the tragedy, Mekhaeil’s life continued to be a tumultuous one—he traveled to India, was hunted by IS assassins, became an international celebrity, and finally landed in New York City. In this volume, he now experiences profound spiritual confusion about who he is—removed from his native land, he’s unsure if he’s still a Coptic Christian or any kind of Christian at all. Father Bishoy, a kind of mentor to Mekhaeil, encourages him to replicate the pilgrimage once taken by St. James, El Camino de Santiago, which begins in France and concludes in northwestern Spain. During his journey, Mekhaeil meets and converses with many travelers and receives a series of lessons about the history of various world faiths, a litany that begins to feel like a textbook course on comparative religion. At one point, he tells a journalist: “I have learned about the Muslims and the Jews, the Buddhists and the Hindus, the Methodists and other Christian denominations, but I’m just not sure I believe everything I have been taught by my parents and the Coptic priests.” Kelley (Hiding in America, 2018, etc.) has based his series on the IS beheading of 21 Egyptian Coptic Christians in Libya in 2015; there were no survivors. In this installment, the author thoughtfully details Mekhaeil’s philosophical odyssey and his prayerful shift from thinking about God to addressing his concerns to him. While the narration in these pages frequently references the book’s predecessors, it’s understandable on its own. The author writes in lucid and affecting prose and powerfully limns Mekhaeil’s “beaten soul,” the consequence of his theological doubts as well as his survivor’s guilt. But Kelley tries too hard—laboriously and earnestly—to impart a lesson, which makes the novel feel didactic. For example, preceding the story are two introductory notes in which Kelley feels compelled to explain the work’s meaning in advance.
A philosophically searching but overly moralistic tale.Pub Date: June 27, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5320-5357-3
Page Count: 332
Publisher: iUniverse
Review Posted Online: Nov. 7, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
None of the characters shine enough to inspire or enlighten readers.
A tale of several generations of women cursed to love men who love other women.
As the book opens, Gabriela Siton relates the story of her mother Luna’s death, and in describing her final year, Yishai-Levi, a journalist and nonfiction author, captures the family dynamic and lays out the drama—Luna doesn’t get along with Gabriela; she’s unhappy with her husband, David; she didn’t get along with her mother, Rosa; and all this has left Gabriela at loose ends. Gabriela seeks answers from her Aunt Allegra in Tel Aviv, trying to understand the family “curse,” and then the book shifts mostly to Rosa’s and Luna’s viewpoints. It abruptly shifts back in the end to Gabriela’s, skipping over years, when earlier, the narrative plodded slowly through days. There are so many characters that we only get a brief look at some of them, and so many disappointments and heartbreaks that they begin to lose their impact. Ordinary lives can be made beautiful, but when they belong to characters who are either unsympathetic or rudimentary, they are rendered ineffective. The characters’ faith, which influences so many of the important decisions in their lives, mostly comes across as routine, habit, or even superstition. Some of the characters become involved in the struggle for modern Israel, and their political fervor is similarly underdeveloped.
None of the characters shine enough to inspire or enlighten readers.Pub Date: April 5, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-250-07816-2
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2016
BOOK REVIEW
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.
During the Nazi occupation of Paris, an architect devises ingenious hiding places for Jews.
In architect Belfoure’s fiction debut, the architectural and historical details are closely rendered, while the characters are mostly sketchy stereotypes. Depraved Gestapo colonel Schlegal and his torturer lackeys and thuggish henchmen see their main goal as tracking down every last Jew in Paris who has not already been deported to a concentration camp. Meanwhile, Lucien, an opportunistic architect whose opportunities have evaporated since 1940, when the Germans marched into Paris, is desperate for a job—so desperate that when industrialist Manet calls upon him to devise a hiding place for a wealthy Jewish friend, he accepts, since Manet can also offer him a commission to design a factory. While performing his factory assignment (the facility will turn out armaments for the Reich), Lucien meets kindred spirit Herzog, a Wehrmacht officer with a keen appreciation of architectural engineering, who views capturing Jews as an ill-advised distraction from winning the war for Germany. The friendship makes Lucien’s collaboration with the German war effort almost palatable—the money isn’t that good. Bigger payouts come as Manet persuades a reluctant Lucien to keep designing hideouts. His inventive cubbyholes—a seamless door in an ornamental column, a staircase section with an undetectable opening, even a kitchen floor drain—all help Jews evade the ever-tightening net of Schlegal and his crew. However, the pressure on Lucien is mounting. A seemingly foolproof fireplace contained a disastrous fatal flaw. His closest associates—apprentice Alain and mistress Adele—prove to have connections to the Gestapo, and, at Manet’s urging, Lucien has adopted a Jewish orphan, Pierre. The Resistance has taken him for short drives to warn him about the postwar consequences of collaboration, and his wife, Celeste, has left in disgust. Belfoure wastes no time prettying up his strictly workmanlike prose. As the tension increases, the most salient virtue of this effort—the expertly structured plot—emerges.
A satisfyingly streamlined World War II thriller.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4022-8431-1
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: March 24, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2013
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