A lively, religious science-fiction tale.
A short parable about the Christian faith.
Sills presents a debut novella that’s half Mere Christianity and half Animal Farm. Readers meet a humble, unassuming “zrog” named Surooval as he hops around on his home world of Anthrogor. He soon encounters none other than Jiminy Cricket. (Sills appends a note about the character’s appearance in the 1940 Disney film Pinocchio but offers no explanation for his appearance here.) Jiminy assures Surooval that he’s on a path to Heaven—a declaration that’s confirmed by the sight of angels flying in the beautiful sky. Jiminy says that he senses that Surooval has met the zrog Jethron, the messiah, whose message of love and brotherhood is universal; as a character later puts it, “We belong to the universe and know of how kind God’s love is.” Sills goes on to provide a fast-paced, simple narrative about a gathering of souls under the care and guidance of a Galactic Union, which is overseen by a kindly deity. As the hapless Everyzrog Surooval makes his way up the various levels of his faith, he meets ambassadors from other worlds, including a delegation of Venusians. Sills presents it all with good cheer and plenty of inviting dialogue. However, the story also has a cavalier attitude toward science; the Venusians, for instance, assure everybody that “here in Venus, the sun always shines upon the new and the young” even though the sun hasn’t shone directly on the real-life surface of Venus in about a billion years. There’s nothing resembling drama in these pages; readers simply follow Surooval along his pilgrim’s progress, always with the reassurance that “[t]here is a purpose and destiny for us all” and that “there is a Divine plan for you.” The various characters morph from one physical form to another as the story progresses, underscoring the narrative’s conviction that faith has many faces and that salvation is available to all peoples. An illustrated version of this tale would make for a fun discussion prompt for young Christian students.
A lively, religious science-fiction tale.Pub Date: April 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1480909021
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Dorrance Publishing Co.
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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
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