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FATHER MUST

Half of the 16 stories in this debut volume come with The New Yorker's imprimatur, a few have appeared in Grand Street, and together they testify to Rofihe's range of narrative voices—a dizzying array of ages, races, classes, and genders. For all his apparent multicultural tendencies, Rofihe, in ``Born Here,'' seems to argue for the old-fashioned virtues of Western Civ., as his Puerto Rican narrator teaches himself the Great Books, and determines to learn as much as possible about people unlike himself. The Mexican-born narrator of ``Six Quarters'' repairs engines somewhere in metropolitan New York and matches his catty wife with two stories he tells over and over. In ``Something About Ireland,'' a visitor to New York marvels at his transplanted brother's exploitation of his ethnic charm. The very short ``Read Chinese'' celebrates life in New York's Chinatown. And ``Jelly Doughnuts'' chronicles the strange relationship of a troubled daughter of Holocaust survivors and her inscrutable New England Indian boyfriend. In ``Yellow Dining Room,'' a rare-book dealer affirms the notion that indeed the rich are different than the rest of us; while a New York painter of some renown envies the unusual sensibility of a less successful painter in ``Elevator Neighbors.'' Two stories told from a child's point of view are extremely effective: ``Snowsuit,'' in which a boy's delight in lying in the snow is interrupted by a concerned adult; and ``Saturday Birthdays,'' in which another boy discovers his mother's attractiveness to men. At the other end of the spectrum, ``Satellite Dish'' is the narrative of a grandmother living on her family's farm who allows her son to chop down a beloved elm in order to improve TV reception. In the title piece, a thirtysomething alcoholic must decide what his girlfriend's son should call him. Also offbeat is ``Quiet,'' the thoughts of a deaf violinist as she contemplates marriage and music. The remaining bits veer from the elliptical to the obscure, and confirm this collection's quirkiness. Confident in his reach, Rofihe disorients as much as he dazzles.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 1991

ISBN: 0-374-15384-1

Page Count: 186

Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 1991

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THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

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

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MAGIC HOUR

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

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