A second novel by McCunn (Thousand Pieces of Gold, 1981) about the plight of Chinese immigrants, this one again tracing through the imagined life of a real person the raw misery of loneliness and fear and the brave insistence on survival. Botanist Lue Gim Gong (d. 1925) performed experiments in hybridization that made a seminal contribution to Florida's citrus industry, yet like many Chinese in the US, he suffered ostracism inspired by prejudice. His mother, Sum Jui, is the first narrator of these ``wooden fish songs'' of lament and emptiness; her story begins in 1842 in rural China and chronicles family tyranny, hunger, worry for children and grandchildren—one forever lost, one murdered. But Sun Jui draws courage from her good husband and hopes for a better future for Gim Gong, who, like his brother and uncle, travels to America. Life among the ``foreign ghosts'' is hard and confusing for the Chinese, who are themselves incomprehensible to the citizens of North Adams, Massachusetts, where spinster Fanny Burlingame—the second narrator—is intrigued by the fresh and eager intelligence of young Lue. Starved for education herself, Fanny becomes the boy's tutor, friend, and later patron. But Fanny believes (despite some misgivings) that she must convert Lue to Christianity. Predictably, then, when the good son returns to China, he brings with him the curse of these alienating ``ghosts.'' After Fanny's death in Florida, Lue continues his work in the US with orange varieties. His scientific contributions are welcomed, but he is still shunned socially. As Sheba, daughter of slaves (and narrator number three), declares, ``Lue cried in the night'' like the Conjure Man of Africa in his magic-alligator shape. Communal ignorance and fear—in both America and China—have done their corrosive worst. A worthy tale of landmark events in a Chinese-American's remarkable life—and hard times—in two cultures.
Pub Date: May 15, 1995
ISBN: 0-525-93927-X
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1995
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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