An amusing, if drawn-out, satire of suburban life.
A modern-day twist on Flaubert’s Madame Bovary sets the story in small-town America.
Keech (A Hundred Veils, 2015) takes on a literary classic in this novel, which follows the romantic and social trials and tribulations of Emma Bovant and her husband, Charles. Emma is a suburban homemaker with professional aspirations; Charles is a caricature of the 21st-century social justice warrior, a tutor/social worker who struggles to make rent while insisting on buying organic food. Financial tensions between the two are simmering when Charles finds a new career goal and a potential sponsor. He decides to become a life coach to a wealthy local woman, Bea Doggit, who pays him $150 an hour for his services. Emma quickly becomes jealous of the relationship, professional or otherwise, developing between her husband and Bea; the first third of the book is mostly an account of romantic envy. Emma eventually realizes, however, that something larger is at play in her sphere. Bea, a realtor, is collaborating with a local pastor to push a major real estate deal through the small town. But for their plan to succeed, they must convince Andre Smyth, Charles’ friend from college, to sell his land along the river. Andre is the opposite of the local culture. Whereas Bea is a Bible-thumping, community-spirited denizen of the modern world, Andre is gay, Bohemian, and a self-avowed intellectual. As the reader realizes that Bea is manipulating Charles to exploit his friendship with Andre, Emma develops a sexual attraction to a man she can never have. Keech’s book never approaches the heights of Flaubert’s landmark novel, but it does cultivate a compelling sense of drama, especially when it focuses on the real estate plotline (At one point, Bea asks Charles for help with Andre: “We just think you might be the only one who can convince him to accept a fantastic price for his property”). Emma’s jealousy toward Bea, on the other hand, feels disproportionate early on, and readers may find her emotional struggle histrionic. Then again, the same could be said at times of Emma Bovary. This tale should please readers who enjoy romantic drama, and may be of interest to fans of Flaubert.
An amusing, if drawn-out, satire of suburban life.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9983805-4-4
Page Count: -
Publisher: Real Nice Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 10, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...
Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.
After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?
Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).Pub Date: July 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-345-45071-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
