Bold humor lifts a story of contemporary relationships, familial and romantic. It’s 1985, and Lisa Diodetto’s life could be much worse. But, according to her traditional Italian-American family, it could also be a lot better. At 25, she’s still not married! Has no children! Lives in the Big Apple! Rarely goes to church! Meantime, her dreary job editing Holocaust memoirs, her recent abortion, and a long string of unmemorable dates have left Lisa reevaluating her various decisions. Thanks to the sound advice of Dodie, love of her life (he’s also her gay cousin), she changes jobs and moves to upstate New York, where, who would have thought, things really heat up. Employed by a large pharmaceuticals company, she edits brochures by day while also penning on the sly a corporate-erotic adventure story. But not long after her arrival, she commits a professional no-no: she falls in love with her boss. Older (of course) and domineering (naturally), Eben Strauss seems an unlikely match, though don—t they all? The relationship, in fact, follows the standard pitfalls of any, but with one twist: Eben, son of a Holocaust survivor, contributed a candid account of his experiences, which Lisa remembers editing. It is only when they are spotted at a hotel by a co-worker—ironically, just as Lisa’s up for promotion after editing the company’s sexual harassment policy—and Dodie gets sick that their happiness begins to crumble. Revealing that he’s dying of AIDS, Dodie brings more than just one fateful message: he and Lisa once shared a needle. Subsequent AIDS tests taken by Lisa and Eben bring their relationship to a halt. But will love somehow prevail? Will Lisa reconcile with her traditional family? Will she persist in writing her tacky novel? Ciresi (Blue Italian, 1996, etc.) gives satisfaction, though it’s not the forward-moving plot that invites reading so much as it is her true spark of humor and biting honesty. (Author tour)
Pub Date: Jan. 5, 1999
ISBN: 0-385-32362-X
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1998
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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