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No Rest in His Bones

A guilt-haunted man examines what he sees as his role in a terrible crime committed by his wife.
When did you know your wife was a sociopath?
asks the first line of this novel. Michael Sanders, recently promoted to director of financial aid for a Chicago-area university, and his wife, Liz, are ready to start a family, but at 35, Liz is finding it difficult to become pregnant—and she reacts pathologically. Michael already carries an enormous burden of guilt for in some way contributing to Liz’s parents’ deaths (just how is revealed late in the book), and as a result, he feels responsible for making sure Liz gets everything she wants: “I spent the last ten years foolishly covering up my own devastating mistake and nurturing dysfunction in my wife….Even though I didn’t commit the crime with my own hands, I am truly just as guilty as Liz.” Although Nicola (The Lives of Skeletons, 2012, etc.) casts Michael’s core problem as one of turning away from God, the real problem—shared by both Michael and Liz—is their dearth of emotional intelligence. For this, Nicola provides abundant and well-delineated evidence of secrets and lies. Liz pretends to have forgiven the drunk driver who killed her parents, but she’s lying; Michael knows that Liz’s father was no saint, “but Liz didn’t need to know that”; Michael is upset that Liz doesn’t ask him about his own feelings about infertility, but he doesn’t tell her; Michael keeps financial troubles from Liz, and Liz painstakingly fakes a pregnancy. Though the truths come out, even at the end, Michael calls Liz “a monster of my own creation,” which goes beyond taking responsibility for his own actions, as if Liz is incapable of agency. He’s still treating her as too weak-minded to have made her own decisions. Some readers may appreciate this view of husbandly responsibility; many will be turned off. Nicola does skillfully build suspense, however, taking readers through Liz’s crazy logic step by step and showing just how an otherwise sane woman could make her choices. Liz’s self-righteousness is chilling and well-observed.
Clearly shows the toxic thinking in a bad relationship, but not all readers will be satisfied with the resolution.

Pub Date: June 24, 2014

ISBN: 978-1499702125

Page Count: 330

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014

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THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS

These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942

ISBN: 0060652934

Page Count: 53

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943

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THE CHOSEN

This first novel, ostensibly about the friendship between two boys, Reuven and Danny, from the time when they are fourteen on opposing yeshiva ball clubs, is actually a gently didactic differentiation between two aspects of the Jewish faith, the Hasidic and the Orthodox. Primarily the Hasidic, the little known mystics with their beards, earlocks and stringently reclusive way of life. According to Reuven's father who is a Zionist, an activist, they are fanatics; according to Danny's, other Jews are apostates and Zionists "goyim." The schisms here are reflected through discussions, between fathers and sons, and through the separation imposed on the two boys for two years which still does not affect their lasting friendship or enduring hopes: Danny goes on to become a psychiatrist refusing his inherited position of "tzaddik"; Reuven a rabbi.... The explanation, in fact exegesis, of Jewish culture and learning, of the special dedication of the Hasidic with its emphasis on mind and soul, is done in sufficiently facile form to engage one's interest and sentiment. The publishers however see a much wider audience for The Chosen. If they "rub their tzitzis for good luck,"—perhaps—although we doubt it.

Pub Date: April 28, 1967

ISBN: 0449911543

Page Count: 304

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Review Posted Online: April 6, 2012

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1967

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