ONE MAN'S WAR

Name: ONE MAN'S WAR
Author: P.M. Kippert
ISBN: 978-1-61373-356-1

by P.M. Kippert ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 1, 2016

Through its attention to detail and its deliberate perspective, Kippert’s first novel delivers a precise, tense, and moving...

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In this episodic novel of World War II, a young American soldier stationed in Italy fights in the Battle of Anzio and observes a host of quiet horrors along the way.

This first novel, inspired by the experiences of Kippert’s late father, follows a soldier named Bob Kafak through his experiences in Italy at the tail end of the war. It intersperses tense scenes of combat with lighter scenes of Kafak and his peers and occasionally moves away from the front lines entirely. The novel is neatly structured, which is of a piece with Kafak’s experiences: “Because each time you went under fire was a new time. Each time was the first time, sort of. All over again.” This isn’t a novel with scenes of individual heroism; instead, Kippert focuses on the messiness of battle. At one point, Kafak shoots at a group of German soldiers, who all fall—but he’s far from the only one who was firing in their direction. Much of the time the action is intentionally chaotic: one description of combat zeroes in on Kafak’s specific actions—firing his gun, throwing a grenade—while withholding the larger picture until after the battle has ended, to nerve-wracking effect. That focus is intentional: in the novel’s preface, Kippert briefly explains his decision to stay with Kafak’s perspective and not reveal the bigger moments in broad strokes. (An Author’s Note at the end of the book provides a larger historical context.) Thanks to Kippert’s matter-of-fact storytelling, the bleakness accumulates without ever overwhelming the tale. In the novel’s first quarter, one of Kafak’s fellow soldiers abruptly shoots himself, while another loses a foot to gangrene; there’s also a memorably scatological use for uniform helmets. Throughout, a balance is achieved between the absurd and the harrowing.

Through its attention to detail and its deliberate perspective, Kippert’s first novel delivers a precise, tense, and moving story.

Pub Date: May 1, 2016

ISBN: 978-1-61373-356-1

Page Count: 272

Publisher: Academy Chicago

Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2016

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

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A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.

"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….

A strict report, worthy of sympathy.

Pub Date: June 15, 1951

ISBN: 0316769177

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- SEEN & HEARD
Salinger Focus of NYPL Exhibit

- SEEN & HEARD
NYC Mayoral Candidates Name Favorite Gotham Books

- APPRECIATIONS
Holden Caulfield: Forever Young

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MAGIC HOUR

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006

Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.

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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.