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LIVING THE GOOD DEATH

Name: LIVING THE GOOD DEATH
Author: Scott Baron
ISBN: 978-1-945996-14-6

by Scott Baron ‧ RELEASE DATE: Nov. 20, 2017

This paranormal tale sets an intriguing stage, but its blander passages dilute the comedy.

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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CARRIE

by Stephen King ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 8, 1974

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these...

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Figuratively and literally shattering moments of hoRRRRRipilication in Chamberlain, Maine where stones fly from the sky rather than from the hands of the villagers (as they did in "The Lottery," although the latter are equal to other forms of persecution).

All beginning when Carrie White discovers a gift with telekinetic powers (later established as a genetic fact), after she menstruates in full ignorance of the process and thinks she is bleeding to death while the other monsters in the high school locker room bait and bully her mercilessly. Carrie is the only child of a fundamentalist freak mother who has brought her up with a concept of sin which no blood of the Lamb can wash clean. In addition to a sympathetic principal and gym teacher, there's one girl who wishes to atone and turns her date for the spring ball over to Carrie who for the first time is happy, beautiful and acknowledged as such. But there will be hell to pay for this success—not only her mother but two youngsters who douse her in buckets of fresh-killed pig blood so that Carrie once again uses her "wild talent," flexes her mind and a complete catastrophe (explosion and an uncontrolled fire) virtually destroys the town.

King handles his first novel with considerable accomplishment and very little hokum—it's only too easy to believe that these youngsters who once ate peanut butter now scrawl "Carrie White eats shit." But as they still say around here, "Sit a spell and collect yourself."

Pub Date: April 8, 1974

ISBN: 0385086954

Page Count: 216

Publisher: Doubleday

Review Posted Online: Sept. 26, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1974

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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OTHER WORLDS THAN THESE
by Stephen King & Peter Straub

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NEVER FLINCH
by Stephen King

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YOU LIKE IT DARKER
by Stephen King

- PERSPECTIVES
Appreciations: Carrie Turns 40

- SEEN & HEARD
Stephen King Used ‘Carrie’ Advance To Support Mom

- BOOK TO SCREEN
New ‘Carrie’ Series in the Works at Amazon

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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.