Appealing, sometimes-eerie stories, fiction or otherwise.
Dinsmoor (You Can Leave Anytime, 2015, etc.) offers a collection of horrific and fantastic SF tales sprinkled with quirky nonfiction selections.
The darkly humorous “Selfies” opens this book with a tale of two young besties, one of whom isn’t exactly human and has an alarming plan for the other. Such a bizarre narrative is indicative of much of Dinsmoor’s work herein. Other tales include “The Generation Pyramid,” which follows individuals caught up in a rather unnerving pyramid scheme, and “The World in Gunnar’s Barn,” in which the titular character’s garage is the site of a fascinating, otherworldly “project.” While most stories are unabashedly science fiction, there’s a handful of nonfiction offerings as well, such as the title story. A standout among the nonfiction is “My Mob Super,” an engaging account of an episode in the life of the author, who hails from Indiana, in Manhattan in the 1980s. His New York super was reputedly mob-affiliated Lou, who was particularly scary when Rob’s roommate neglected to pay his half of the rent. A few of the SF stories have predictable twists, and some explore similar territory. “Times Are Different in Port St. Joe” and “Directions to Another World,” for example, both revolve around wormholes. Dinsmoor, however, distinguishes these tales in other ways. “Times” is the spooky one (Bob is consumed with locating a wormhole in Florida and undeterred by the apparent danger) in contrast to the diverting “Directions” (Leo’s newly repaired GPS system helps get him to his destination in mere minutes, regardless of the distance). Despite the book’s generally dark themes, it offers glimpses of happier moments. “Howard at Ravenswood” and “Life After Bambi” are two seemingly bleak stories that ultimately turn, respectively, witty and bittersweet. Dinsmoor’s no-nonsense writing often begets slow-building horror and subtle humor. In “The Pharaoh Cats,” the narrator describes his sister’s growing obsession with felines, which entails the sight of roaming cats and the “pervasive” odor of “cat pee.”
Appealing, sometimes-eerie stories, fiction or otherwise.Pub Date: Oct. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-945917-47-9
Page Count: 149
Publisher: Big Table Publishing Company
Review Posted Online: Jan. 15, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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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