Oxnam (Cinnabar, 1990) spins a well-meaning tale that often sounds campy in its zeal to put a feminist twist on Chinese history. In 1625, Longyan—the son of a prominent man and a concubine- -proves unable to study because he sees ``jumping words'' when he looks at a page. Longyan apparently suffers from dyslexia. He befriends his opposite, a woman named Meihua, who commits the taboo act (for women) of learning by hiding behind a bookcase when a tutor comes to the house to instruct her brothers. She can therefore read and write but must tell no one, as she is more prized for her delicate bound feet than her mind. Meihua marries Longyan's brother, and the two strike up a lifelong secret correspondence (Longyan dictates his letters to others). Longyan's photographic memory permits him to rise in the ranks of the army. Back home, Meihua and some like-minded women have formed the Ladies' Filial Piety Society, really a secret consciousness-raising group for educated women, which eventually mutates into a strong female army. After the Manchu invasion, the star-crossed lovers are exiled to a mosquito-infested island together, where they find some semblance of happiness. Oxnam is president of the Asia Society, and his knowledge of Chinese history is obviously vast, although occasionally he lets fact take precedence over drama: ``So that's what a dynastic change feels like, Longyan mused, knowing that the event had not occurred for almost three hundred years.'' And sometimes, despite the fact that Oxnam tries to deflect skepticism in an introduction, the transfer of contemporary mores to 17th- century China is a grating anachronism. Still, it's more fun to read than a textbook, and almost as informative, and Oxnam keeps things moving along, even in the face of incredulity.
Pub Date: Jan. 20, 1995
ISBN: 0-312-11315-3
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Dunne/St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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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