by Rory McFarlan ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 9, 2019
A well-argued but mostly unengaging story about the difficulties of being an openly gay Mormon.
A devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints must reconcile his sexual orientation with his faith in McFarlan’s debut novel.
Nephi Willard isn’t just a Mormon; he’s a model Mormon who was born and raised in Utah’s Happy Valley: “Nephi was the kind of Mormon that other Mormons admire. He had never tasted coffee, tea, or alcohol, which are forbidden by the Word of Wisdom, and wasn’t even tempted to do so….He had never broken the law of chastity and despite being thirty years of age, had only ever kissed one girl.” He served two years as a missionary in Alabama and is currently the executive secretary to his ward’s bishop—an unpaid position to which he was “called.” But Nephi faces a major complication regarding his religion: He’s attracted to men. Although being gay is not, in itself, seen as a sin in the eyes of the church, acting on it is. The celibate Nephi doesn’t understand why God would make him a certain way and also deem that way to be sinful. He hopes that the church may one day change its stance on the matter, but his bishop warns him not to speak of such things. After they have a discussion about the topic, the bishop releases Nephi from his calling as his secretary and temporarily bans him from attending temple services. Nephi is so frustrated by his treatment that he throws caution to the wind and decides to try dating men. After a difficult first date with a man who isn’t interested in someone who refuses to kiss, he meets Alex, a patient person who’s willing to help Nephi—whom Alex calls a “thirty-year-old baby gay”—figure things out. However, Nephi soon realizes that his religious beliefs are as much a part of him as his sexual orientation.
McFarlan’s novel does an impressive job of laying out the stakes of being a gay Mormon—particularly one who continues to devoutly follow his religion after coming to terms with his sexuality. The book appears to be aimed at members of the faith, as Nephi routinely has theological and historical discussions that seem specifically geared toward persuading adherents who are uncomfortable with LGBT relationships. In its didacticism, it is indeed convincing; as fiction, however, it ends up being a bit dry. Nephi is a noble but fairly wooden protagonist, and McFarlan’s prose style suffers from an expositional flatness: “Even though Utah is an at-will employment state and employers can fire employees at any time for any reason, Nephi had to document all conversations carefully for HR and legal.” The book also takes a while to get started, partly because the author includes a good deal of superfluous material; for example, whenever the characters pray, which is not an infrequent occurrence, the entire prayer is rendered in the text. Things pick up after Alex appears in the story, but even then, the plot holds few relatively few surprises.
A well-argued but mostly unengaging story about the difficulties of being an openly gay Mormon.Pub Date: Dec. 9, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73417-940-8
Page Count: 308
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Feb. 17, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
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A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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by Tana French ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 5, 2024
An absorbing crime yarn.
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A divorced American detective tries to blend into rural Ireland in this sequel to The Searcher (2020).
In fictional Ardnakelty, on Ireland’s west coast, lives retired American cop Cal Hooper, who busies himself repairing furniture with 15-year-old Theresa “Trey” Reddy and fervently wishes to be boring. Then into town pops Trey’s long-gone, good-for-nothing dad, Johnny, all smiles and charm. Much to her distaste, he says he wants to reclaim his fatherly role. In fact, he’s on the run from a criminal for a debt he can’t repay, and he has a cockamamie scheme to persuade local townsfolk that there might be gold in the nearby mountain with a vein that might run through some of their properties. (What, no leprechauns?) “It’s not sheep shite you’ll be smelling in a few months’ time, man,” he tells a farmer. “It’s champagne and caviar.” Some people have fun fantasizing about sudden riches, but they know better. Johnny’s pursuer, Cillian Rushborough, comes to town, and Johnny tries to convince him he could get rich by purchasing people’s land. Alas, someone bashes Rushborough’s brains in, and now there’s a murder mystery. The plot is a bit of a stretch, but the characters and their relationships work well. Trey detests Johnny for not being in her life, and now that he’s back, she neither wants nor needs him. She gets on much better with Cal. Still, she’s a testy teenager when she thinks someone is not treating her like an adult. Cal is aware of this, and he’s careful how he talks to her. Johnny, not so much: “I swear to fuck, women are only put on this earth to wreck our fuckin’ heads,” he whines about Trey’s mother, briefly forgetting he’s talking to Trey. The book abounds in local color and lively dialogue.
An absorbing crime yarn.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9780593493434
Page Count: 480
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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