A contrast between Saudi and American ways that sets the stage for an engrossing exploration of personal and political...
A hard-driving designer seeks acclaim by competing to develop a Middle Eastern museum only to discover that the project’s real value is different from what she imagined.
Grinell (Appetite, 2016, etc.) paints a detailed portrait of ambitious museum developer Joanna Dunhill and her business partner and husband, Everett Dana, in this novel. If their company gets the contract to create a Saudi Arabian children’s museum, Jo thinks fame and success will be hers. Ev, who wants to spend his time cloistered in his studio designing displays, is not so sure seeking contractual relationships with the Saudis is such a great idea. Ev finds the Saudis devious and their obscure ethos quite disturbing. Jo and Ev’s business negotiations provide the framework for a story whose real center is the social and ethical issues, cultural conflicts, and oddities of Saudi life that control and censor the populace, especially women. The tale contrasts Saudi customs with American social mores, deftly drawing out tensions that not only involve Jo and Ev, but also Jo’s haphazard sister, Diane, and her young assistant, Becca. Jo wants to mentor Becca, who has a crush on Ev. And while Jo disparages Ev’s childishness, his imagination is the key to their success because he thinks like a kid. “Sometimes she thought him incapable of reasoning like an adult,” Jo muses. “But the flip side, his ability to sense the world as it appeared to children, earned their living.” Lucidly written, the author’s disclosures about her characters’ inner lives provide rich turf for this story. The players’ repeated trips to Saudi Arabia and their contract talks spotlight the deep cultural divides that supply a focus for the engaging tale. Jo’s deepening relationship with Saudi translator Myriam shows that supporting women’s rights in Saudi Arabia means taking baby steps, a strategy that challenges Jo’s definition of feminism.
A contrast between Saudi and American ways that sets the stage for an engrossing exploration of personal and political issues.Pub Date: Sept. 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-63152-648-0
Page Count: 288
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 14, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A girl comes of age in '50's South Carolina fighting the label ``trash'' and the violent advances of her stepfather: an overly familiar story as Allison (Trash, 1988) handles the material in a surprisingly nostalgic way. When narrator Ruth Ann Boatwright (nicknamed Bone) is born to 15-year-old unmarried Anney, the word ``ILLEGITIMATE'' is stamped in big red letters on the birth certificate; for years, Anney will stubbornly try to get a new document without the glaring stigma. She will also try to make a decent home for her two daughters, marrying Glen Waddell, who—the black sheep of a prominent local family—admires the heavy-drinking, brawling Boatwright men. Glen adores Anney but the Boatwrights have their reservations: ``the boy could turn like whiskey in a bad barrel.'' Indeed, not only does he have trouble holding a job but soon makes Bone a scapegoat for his frustrations: she suffers beatings and sexual molestation, keeping silent in order not to spoil her mother's hard-won happiness. Though the family triangle is the dramatic center of the novel, the narrative meanders through the story of the Boatwright clan. Bone reflects on her strong and independent (if hard-treated) aunts and appreciates family strength, love, and loyalty while recognizing that the outside world sees the Boatwrights as antisocial trash. Compassionate if not very compelling; after the often searing power of Allison's short stories, she seems not to have claimed her voice so much as tamed it.
Pub Date: April 10, 1992
ISBN: 0-525-93425-1
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1992
IN THE NEWS
Excellent, both as a reproductive dystopian narrative and as a social novel about women and class.
At a luxurious secret facility in the Hudson Valley of New York, women who need money bear children for wealthy would-be mothers with no time for pregnancy.
Golden Oaks is a division of a high-end luxury services company that has found a new way to meet the needs of its customer base. The company recruits healthy young women—the Hosts—implants them with fertilized eggs from the Clients, houses and feeds them, manages their pregnancies, and monitors their every move, breath, and heartbeat until delivery, at which point the Host receives a huge payout. The operation is run by Mae Yu, a Chinese-American Harvard Business School graduate whose insatiable ambition and moral turpitude conflict with—and keep winning out over—her sympathy for the women who work for her, mostly nonwhite immigrants. Central among them is Jane, a Filipina with a 6-month-old baby who is financially desperate after losing her job as a nanny. For Jane, Golden Oaks is a godsend, not to mention the nicest place she's ever lived, until she realizes that being separated from her daughter is unbearable. Even though there are many other Filipinas, she feels completely isolated until befriended by her roommate, Reagan McCarthy. Reagan is one of the few who represent "the holy trifecta of Premium Hosts": white, pretty, and cum laude from Duke. Reagan's anomie and desperate need to be of use motivate her as much as the need to be free of her financially controlling father. Lisa, the other white girl at Golden Oaks, is on her third assignment at what she calls "The Farm." She is the only one who sees the exploitative, Orwellian setup for what it is, and her ongoing efforts to game the system eventually lead to big trouble...for Jane. Perhaps the most powerful element of this debut novel by Ramos, who was born in Manila and moved to Wisconsin when she was 6, is its portrait of the world of Filipinas in New York. The three-page soliloquy of instructions for nannying delivered to Jane by her more experienced cousin is a work of art in itself.
Excellent, both as a reproductive dystopian narrative and as a social novel about women and class.Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-9848-5375-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2019
PROFILES
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
