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PETER OLAF

Name: PETER OLAF
Author: Richard H. Grabmeier
ISBN: 978-0595157440

by Richard H. Grabmeier ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 14, 2000

A strong, debut historical novel.

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A Swedish boy makes good in the New World in this rags-to-riches story.

Peter Olaf Hokanson, a 17-year-old Swede, is obsessed with America and the possibilities presented by the faraway country. Unwilling to labor in his father’s woodworking shop for the rest of his life, our hero leaves his family and girlfriend in order to make a new life in the United States. After a long journey alone across the Atlantic and a train trip from New York, Peter arrives in Minnesota in 1895, where he finds an untamed, frozen landscape covered in forests. The lumber industry is booming and the cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul are quickly developing. With the help of his already established cousin, Sven, and a new friend, Gus, Peter quickly finds his first job as a lumberjack, which kicks off his astonishing ten year evolution from poor immigrant laborer to lumber company executive to wealthy and prestigious factory owner. Yet this path toward success does not come easily—each chapter in the novel includes a particular challenge that Peter must overcome, whether it’s almost freezing to death after fighting off a pack of wolves on Christmas day, dealing with the tragic death of a loved one, overcoming lost love, or facing an assault with a deadly weapon charge. This steady stream of obstacles teaches Peter that, in the tradition of Horatio Alger, hard work, determination and loyalty lead to wealth and happiness. For the reader, these tests keep the pages flowing and the story moving forward at a good pace. Additionally, the novel is peppered with Peter’s love affairs with very different women—a Swedish sweetheart, a half-Indian healer and his boss’ daughters—that function to keep his story interesting. Grabmeier clearly has done his homework in terms of the lumber industry’s history in Minnesota and its effect on the state’s growth, and he should be applauded for weaving insightful historical facts into the book without drowning the narrative in them. While Peter’s trial skirts bombast, overall the book offers a nice twist on the typical immigrant-makes-good-in America storyline.

A strong, debut historical novel.

Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2000

ISBN: 978-0595157440

Page Count: 480

Publisher: iUniverse

Review Posted Online: Aug. 18, 2010

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

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WE WERE THE LUCKY ONES

by Georgia Hunter ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 14, 2017

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

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Hunter’s debut novel tracks the experiences of her family members during the Holocaust.

Sol and Nechuma Kurc, wealthy, cultured Jews in Radom, Poland, are successful shop owners; they and their grown children live a comfortable lifestyle. But that lifestyle is no protection against the onslaught of the Holocaust, which eventually scatters the members of the Kurc family among several continents. Genek, the oldest son, is exiled with his wife to a Siberian gulag. Halina, youngest of all the children, works to protect her family alongside her resistance-fighter husband. Addy, middle child, a composer and engineer before the war breaks out, leaves Europe on one of the last passenger ships, ending up thousands of miles away. Then, too, there are Mila and Felicia, Jakob and Bella, each with their own share of struggles—pain endured, horrors witnessed. Hunter conducted extensive research after learning that her grandfather (Addy in the book) survived the Holocaust. The research shows: her novel is thorough and precise in its details. It’s less precise in its language, however, which frequently relies on cliché. “You’ll get only one shot at this,” Halina thinks, enacting a plan to save her husband. “Don’t botch it.” Later, Genek, confronting a routine bit of paperwork, must decide whether or not to hide his Jewishness. “That form is a deal breaker,” he tells himself. “It’s life and death.” And: “They are low, it seems, on good fortune. And something tells him they’ll need it.” Worse than these stale phrases, though, are the moments when Hunter’s writing is entirely inadequate for the subject matter at hand. Genek, describing the gulag, calls the nearest town “a total shitscape.” This is a low point for Hunter’s writing; elsewhere in the novel, it’s stronger. Still, the characters remain flat and unknowable, while the novel itself is predictable. At this point, more than half a century’s worth of fiction and film has been inspired by the Holocaust—a weighty and imposing tradition. Hunter, it seems, hasn’t been able to break free from her dependence on it.

Too beholden to sentimentality and cliché, this novel fails to establish a uniquely realized perspective.

Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2017

ISBN: 978-0-399-56308-9

Page Count: 416

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: Nov. 21, 2016

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2016

Categories:

RELIGIOUS FICTION | HISTORICAL FICTION

- BOOK TO SCREEN
Hulu’s ‘We Were the Lucky Ones’ Adds To Cast

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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.