A solid effort, despite moments of implausibility.
A passable imagining of the eighth-century Byzantium, where intransigent Muslims lurked at the outer gates, and sinister doings within the walls kept things interesting.
Spector’s hero is Count Nicetas Beser, Emperor Constantine V’s adviser and confidant, who introduces himself at the beginning of the novel as “a 98-year-old living relic” keeping himself healthy, wealthy and wise by exercising, eating right and practicing the “secret stroking of my closet herm,” a fertility statue which he lovingly describes. The herm figures here and there, but less so than the testicles of various tough, martial men–attention to such things was apparently pronounced in days of old, if one can gauge by the frequent references herein (“Leo, we heard you have three balls”). Though too given to textbook-ish exposition, Spector unfolds a nicely complex tale of partisan politics, skullduggery and epic warfare punctuated by the occasional anachronism and Star Trek moment (“I’m a physician, not an investigator”). On that note, verisimilitude is sometimes markedly lacking–for example, the ancients may have written confidential memos, but they probably didn’t carry the interoffice “To” and “From” headings of today. Despite that, Beser wouldn’t be unfitting company for real historical Roman figures, such as the famed military general Count Belisarius, a similarly stalwart character. It is clear that Spector has done his homework, and most of the details of Byzantine life ring true. His take on the religious controversies of the time is also instructive: it is easy to forget that the Byzantines, revered now for their brilliant art, were a superstitious lot given to “serious icon pollution and relic mania.” Though these characters are, on the whole, less bloodthirsty than those found in historical accounts, Spector paints a believable portrait of life behind Constantinople’s thick stone walls.
A solid effort, despite moments of implausibility.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-4357-1317-8
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 23, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
© Copyright 2024 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.
bookshelf
