This paranormal tale sets an intriguing stage, but its blander passages dilute the comedy.
Baron (Snow White’s Walk of Shame, 2017, etc.) offers a novel in which Death comes to life.
Andy Meade, 53, is on his way to his car after having a few drinks at a bar when a shudder goes through him and he realizes that something is very wrong. It turns out that Andy is dying and, although he can’t see her, a young woman, dressed in black, is there to take his “life force” away. She’s none other than Death, the Reaper of Souls. But she’s distracted by a man who opens a pocket watch nearby, and she finds that she’s inexplicably unable to perform her duties. Soon, she wakes up on the floor of a motel room and realizes that not only can she no longer reap souls, but she’s also become human. She’ll go on to discover what it means to be hungry, tired, alone, and eventually, in love. Still, she’s consumed by the question of if and how she’ll ever be able to reap again. After all, although it may not be pleasant, the world needs Death. And Death, who will come to be known as Dorothy in her human form, is simply lost without her vocation. The resulting tale involves everything from a savage mental institution to the kindness of strangers. It’s an enticing premise that lends itself to comical situations, as when Dorothy insists that “I am Death! I do not get crushes.” Some scenes leave much to be desired, however, as when Dorothy experiences rather tame adventures at a carnival or peruses vinyl records with her sometimes-grating mortal suitor, Randy, who touts a local record store by saying, “Others may try to recreate the feel, but this place is the real deal.” That said, the story does have its share of insights, such as the idea that “every moment of every day was unique for every single person.”
This paranormal tale sets an intriguing stage, but its blander passages dilute the comedy.Pub Date: Nov. 20, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-945996-14-6
Page Count: 294
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 10, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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