A gorgeous novel about finding redemption.
In Nolan Martin’s (The Sublime Transformation of Vera Wright, 2012) latest novel, a group of eccentric nuns struggle to find themselves and each other in a convent.
Gemma stands on a hill, talking to the Hudson River. Arielle, fresh from rehab, wakes up in a jail cell to a vision of an angel. Prioress Michael Agnes reads through correspondence from the Vatican. Although each character is very different, they all soon find themselves at the same convent on a farm near Albany, N.Y. Gemma so wants to be saintly that she conducts secret acts of penance, putting rock salt in her too-small shoes and wearing full winter habits in the heat of summer. She tends the fields of the farm and protects her secret: She hears the voice of her “twin,” Maya, who begs to be “let out,” only to be pushed down by Gemma’s saintly aspirations. Sister Mike works to keep the ragtag group of nuns together, as the convent is hemorrhaging money, and caring for the group (and the “grand ancient mystic” Mother Augusta) is taking its toll. When former criminal Arielle is sent to the convent, she’s not Catholic, nor anything close to a saint, but something immediately changes. Arielle touches the life of each nun in a different way—attending to Mother Augusta, becoming Gemma’s confidante, and even getting Mike an iPhone for the office. However, Gemma’s inner voices become too much for her, and when it appears that “Maya” is here to stay, each woman springs into action. In a novel that’s similar in structure and tone to Toni Morrison’s Paradise (1997), Nolan Martin tells the story from the viewpoints of each main character and truly gives each her own distinct voice—not an easy feat. Readers get a beautifully fleshed-out and complete look at their likes, dislikes, fears and pasts, all of which add to the intensity of the novel’s main plotline. The story crosses all barriers of religion, and readers needn’t be Catholic or even Christian to appreciate its universal tropes. The author brings her obvious spirituality and humanity to this wonderful, relatable tale of failure, love and triumph.
A gorgeous novel about finding redemption.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2013
ISBN: 978-0991032211
Page Count: 358
Publisher: Wiawaka Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 24, 2013
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
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Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
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