An inspiring adventure with a strong heroine.
In Conner’s first novel, a young woman starts seeing visions, changing her world forever.
Aliyah’s existence is a peaceful one. In her junior year of high school in a quiet town, she’s supported by a loving single mother, good friends, and a church community. Only one thing disturbs her: her dreams. They seem so real that they’re nearly visions, and she doesn’t understand what they mean. With the help of Pastor Mike, her church’s leader, and his foster son, Jesse, Aliyah begins to come to terms with her gift. It takes a great tragedy for her to meet Jesus and truly understand her special purpose on Earth, though the grief she feels in the aftermath threatens to overwhelm her trust in the divine plan. She’s pulled back into using her gift in the service of a friend, after which a series of dramatic events unfolds. Pastor Mike and Jesse also work in the service of God in special ways, as Aliyah learns, and she begins to refine her understanding of her gifts in their company. “You will have to choose to see the light,” Pastor Mike tells her when she’s in the grip of horrible dreams. “God has already chosen you, but you have to do your part to follow His light. Just remember that His light is more powerful than the dark; always. You don’t ever have to be afraid.” Though many influential men are present in Aliyah’s life, she is an effective and positive force in the world. Her blossoming romance with Jesse is cut short by his graduation, when they decide they both need to see what God wants them to be before they proceed, leaving Aliyah refreshingly undefined by romance. Conner’s novel is ideal for teenagers who, preferring their reading both religious and exciting, are ready for discussions about the light and dark at play in all our lives.
An inspiring adventure with a strong heroine.Pub Date: Oct. 14, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4908-5190-7
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 4, 2015
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
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