Magical realism spurs on this solid debut.
In Deib’s debut novel, a personal tragedy leads a woman to obsess over the fates of fictional characters.
It’s been over a week since Angela Crown entered Vancouver General Hospital, deep in shock after Mark, her fiance, and John, her father, were killed during a bank robbery. Her sister, Maggie, takes her home, where they both hope that the warm familiarity will help heal Angela’s shattered mind. She begins seeing a psychiatrist, Dr. Price, and returns to her love of reading. She soon realizes, however, that she has no tolerance for the physical and mental pain that the fictional characters experience. At a book signing, she attacks author Bruce Darling, calling him a criminal for the way he’s tortured his creations. Angela then decides that she’s a “Professional Reader” who must “intervene and rehabilitate depraved plots.” Writer Martin Magier is her next target after his new novel, Sara’s Tragedy, has a successful launch. Soon, she starts believing that her own life is a novel, and although she couldn’t save fellow characters John and Mark, she’s determined to save others. To that end, she refuses to abandon Sara to the cruel end that Magier has written for her—and not even the boundaries of reality can stop her. Deib’s intriguing concept will have readers wondering about the suffering that Angela’s character goes through as the narrative unfolds. The author creates a neat, unique fantasy setup: Angela can interact with characters in fictional worlds—but only as a ghost. She also finds that Magier’s fictional creations worship him as a god, which layers the tale with effective religious commentary. The text frequently shines with simple metaphors that book lovers will understand quite well: “Angela devoured each word and each page like parched soil receiving heavy rains.” Sometimes, though, the prose is a bit overcooked: “Like small fish glued together forming a gigantic shark, they swept across the land as if they were a powerful tsunami.” The sentimental finale leaves plenty of questions open for a potential sequel.
Magical realism spurs on this solid debut.Pub Date: Aug. 29, 2014
ISBN: 978-1500694593
Page Count: 342
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
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