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THE SUNKEN TEMPLE

Name: THE SUNKEN TEMPLE
Author: Satoko Kizaki
ISBN: 4-7700-1679-4

by Satoko Kizaki ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 1994

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From the author of the stories in The Phoenix Tree (1990), a somewhat overwrought exploration of the tensions between passion and obedience in a Buddhist setting. Over a summer, the emotions and frustrations that had been long repressed in the households attached to the Buddhist Pure Land Temple of a small fishing town break out in tragic and unexpected ways. Yuko, the senior priest's wife, has retreated more and more into the temple grounds, cutting herself off from the outside world, because she is ``painfully aware of a deep emptiness and unease that had been lying dormant inside her for years.'' She is also worried about her son, Harumitsu, the young priest and Temple heir, who has studied art and classical guitar in Tokyo and shows signs of wanting to live abroad rather than carry out his hereditary religious duties. And in another temple household, adolescent Shoji, after a childhood spent in Tokyo with his mother and stepfather, is adjusting to living with his real father, the assistant-priest. Unhappy at being sent away by his mother, and preoccupied with the recent death of his elder brother, Shoji is cheered by a burgeoning friendship with Akemi. Akemi, a high-school student and Noh actress, is the daughter of a wealthy fishing family; she is also deeply in love with Harumitsu. The catalyst for the inevitable tragedy is provided by the arrival of mysterious Chikoni, also the daughter of a priest. A gifted seer, believed to be able to change herself into a snake—a benign being that signifies rain—she too falls deeply in love with Harumitsu. It is their love affair that precipitates the crises that will bring about death and mutilation. An evocative setting and premise, but themes that are handled with a heavy and schematic hand. Disappointing.

Pub Date: March 1, 1994

ISBN: 4-7700-1679-4

Page Count: 208

Publisher: Kodansha

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1994

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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SUMMER ISLAND

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2001

The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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.