Classic American history theater for readers who are weary of The Crucible and Inherit the Wind.
In his debut play, Wheatley (A Song of Africa, 2011) illuminates the life of an African-American poet and explores both colonists’ and slaves’ desires for liberty.
Phillis Wheatley (1753-1784), born in West Africa, was captured by slavers in 1761 and sold to Boston’s John Wheatley. The Wheatley family didn’t treat her like an ordinary slave, instead giving her an unprecedented classical education in literature; she eventually became America’s first published black poet. The playwright, who may himself be descended from the Boston family he portrays, zeroes in on the events of Nov. 4 and 5, 1772, when Phillis stood trial to prove her authorship of her poems. The first act shows the Wheatleys preparing for trial, with Phillis rehearsing lines and John and his son, Nathaniel, discussing issues such as abolition and taxation. Nathaniel is a patriot—“How can we ignore tyranny?” he demands—but John is a Loyalist. With these characters, the author offers a perfect, miniature illustration of the Colonial debates over British rule and slavery’s continuation. Meanwhile, his portrayal of Phillis comes across as simultaneously humble and erudite, as she references Shakespeare, John Donne, Alexander Pope, John Milton and Christopher Marlowe. Act 2 re-creates the trial, using characters’ actual words wherever possible. Massachusetts Gov. Thomas Hutchinson, the defense lawyer, frames the case idealistically: “I thought today we could perhaps take a step toward reconciliation.…The common ground I speak of lies in art, and poetry.” The prosecution asks Phillis to identify some verses and list her influences; it’s particularly interested in her metaphorical use of the word “Americus” and the phrase “fair freedom” and in whether she harbors a political agenda. Phillis admits that her position in life influences her writing but insists she was only describing the colonists’ plight. “I am what I am. I cannot be what I perceive others may want me to be,” she passionately declares. The trial’s result provides the play with a heartwarming, triumphant conclusion. The work’s prefatory materials and stage directions can seem long-winded at times, but this is a relatively minor drawback. Overall, the historical figures come to vibrant life in the author’s illustration of the primacy of freedom: “Today we have been reminded by a slave girl how precious is our liberty,” Founding Father John Hancock declares at one point.
Classic American history theater for readers who are weary of The Crucible and Inherit the Wind.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2014
ISBN: 978-0615645315
Page Count: 242
Publisher: The Trial of Phillis Wheatley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 17, 2014
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
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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