Gummer has found rich territory for satire, but he never decides if his take should be wacky or more nuanced.
Suburban Little League fields become a metaphor for adult squabbles in this comic novel.
Ben, the hero of Gummer’s fiction debut, is an unlikely candidate for the role of inspirational coach of a Little League squad in suburban northern California. Unlike his late father, who guided plenty of young athletes in the town of Palace Valley, Ben extracted himself from baseball as a child and instead became a builder of fine furniture in New York City, where he lived with his wife, Jili, and three kids. But after Jili’s mother falls ill, the brood heads back west, and Ben has to confront dad’s legacy and the memory of teenage slights. Much of the book is structured around comic set pieces built around stereotypical characters: the alluring mom who may be trying to put Ben in a compromising position, the hotheaded Little League coach who runs his team like Patton and the star pitcher who’s full of attitude and disdain. Such archetypes would be more tolerable if the novel didn’t shift so erratically between sincerity and broad comedy. Ben has enough intellect and emotional depth to make him more than just a sputtering dolt when he’s left to take the reins of a team, and the back story of Ben and Jili’s efforts to keep their family together in the midst of a big move and a death in the family are well drawn. But though the novel initially seems to aspire to become a seriocomic study of suburbia in the mode of Tom Perrotta, it ultimately collapses into fluffier, family-movie fare. Unlikely, shticky predicaments abound, such as the appearance of a big-name pop star in Ben’s studio, and a subplot involving a shocking confession by a famous ballplayer goes nowhere. Worse, in Palace Valley, people nurse their high-school wounds to an absurd degree, which makes the climatic conflict between Ben and the bullying coach feel forced and cartoonish. The closing chapters hit plenty of feel-good buttons, but they’re too carefully machined to have much of an effect.
Gummer has found rich territory for satire, but he never decides if his take should be wacky or more nuanced.Pub Date: April 12, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-0917-2
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters...
Female rivalry is again the main preoccupation of Hannah’s latest Pacific Northwest sob saga (Firefly Lane, 2008, etc.).
At Water’s Edge, the family seat overlooking Hood Canal, Vivi Ann, youngest and prettiest of the Grey sisters and a champion horsewoman, has persuaded embittered patriarch Henry to turn the tumbledown ranch into a Western-style equestrian arena. Eldest sister Winona, a respected lawyer in the nearby village of Oyster Shores, hires taciturn ranch hand Dallas Raintree, a half-Native American. Middle sister Aurora, stay-at-home mother of twins, languishes in a dull marriage. Winona, overweight since adolescence, envies Vivi, whose looks get her everything she wants, especially men. Indeed, Winona’s childhood crush Luke recently proposed to Vivi. Despite Aurora’s urging (her principal role is as sisterly referee), Winona won’t tell Vivi she loves Luke. Yearning for Dallas, Vivi stands up Luke to fall into bed with the enigmatic, tattooed cowboy. Winona snitches to Luke: engagement off. Vivi marries Dallas over Henry’s objections. The love-match triumphs, and Dallas, though scarred by child abuse, is an exemplary father to son Noah. One Christmas Eve, the town floozy is raped and murdered. An eyewitness and forensic evidence incriminate Dallas. Winona refuses to represent him, consigning him to the inept services of a public defender. After a guilty verdict, he’s sentenced to life without parole. A decade later, Winona has reached an uneasy truce with Vivi, who’s still pining for Dallas. Noah is a sullen teen, Aurora a brittle but resigned divorcée. Noah learns about the Seattle Innocence Project. Could modern DNA testing methods exonerate Dallas? Will Aunt Winona redeem herself by reopening the case? The outcome, while predictable, is achieved with more suspense and less sentimental histrionics than usual for Hannah.
Above-average formula fiction, making full display of the author’s strong suits: sense of place, compassion for characters and understanding of family dynamics.Pub Date: Feb. 9, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-312-36410-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2008
A fable about the consolatory and strengthening powers of religion flounders about somewhere inside this unconventional coming-of-age tale, which was shortlisted for Canada’s Governor General’s Award. The story is told in retrospect by Piscine Molitor Patel (named for a swimming pool, thereafter fortuitously nicknamed “Pi”), years after he was shipwrecked when his parents, who owned a zoo in India, were attempting to emigrate, with their menagerie, to Canada. During 227 days at sea spent in a lifeboat with a hyena, an orangutan, a zebra, and a 450-pound Bengal tiger (mostly with the latter, which had efficiently slaughtered its fellow beasts), Pi found serenity and courage in his faith: a frequently reiterated amalgam of Muslim, Hindu, and Christian beliefs. The story of his later life, education, and mission rounds out, but does not improve upon, the alternately suspenseful and whimsical account of Pi’s ordeal at sea—which offers the best reason for reading this otherwise preachy and somewhat redundant story of his Life.
Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-15-100811-6
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2002
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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