by Rick Bass ‧ RELEASE DATE: May 13, 2005
Beyond that, little, really, is delved into, although the war, suffering and deprivation are vivid.
Only the second full-length novel from Bass (The Hermit’s Story, 2002), this takes an episode from Texas history that provides grit and suffering aplenty—while matters psychological remain generally unstirred.
In the 1830s, Texas has become an independent nation under the presidency of Sam Houston, but there’s still plenty of bad blood between the Mexicans and those new foreigners to the north. And so it is that after “a band of infidels, Mexican nationals,” cross the Rio Grande, attack San Antonio and flee, retaliation is called for. And when two military men, Captain Fisher and Captain Green, come through the town of LaGrange on the lookout for militiamen, even our 16-year-old narrator, surname of Alexander, and his friend James Shepherd join up. A band of 500 sets out, ostensibly to patrol the Rio Grande but in actuality—though known only to the commanders—to find revenge, an aim that leads to acts of wanton pillage, rapine and atrocity in Laredo and, such behavior being not yet sufficient, to the crossing of the river and invasion of Mexico as a harassing force. From there on, all goes downhill, as Jim Shepherd loses an arm, then his comradely goodness of character, then his life, and as the entire militia, defeated in battle in Ciudad Mier, is taken prisoner by the Mexicans. Near-starvation, exhaustion, attempts at escape (one of them through the mountains: a disaster)—all cut away at the number of survivors. Punishment at one point is the diezmo—the shooting of one in ten, decided by lot. Our narrator, though, somehow survives everything, including long and truly merciless imprisonment in the ungodly carved-from-a-mountain prison in Perote. After release, and after return home, “only a handful” remain of the 308 who crossed into Mexico. Now, at age 66 and telling the tale, the narrator wonders, “Why was I one of the tiny handful who survived the entire journey?”
Beyond that, little, really, is delved into, although the war, suffering and deprivation are vivid.Pub Date: May 13, 2005
ISBN: 0-395-92617-3
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2005
Share your opinion of this book
More by Rick Bass
BOOK REVIEW
by Rick Bass
BOOK REVIEW
by Rick Bass
BOOK REVIEW
by Rick Bass
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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
Share your opinion of this book
More by J.D. Salinger
BOOK REVIEW
More About This Book
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
Share your opinion of this book
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
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.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.