In Silverman’s (Divorce Lawyer: A Satyr’s Tale, 2013, etc.) latest novel, a lawyer makes an audacious attempt to take the Mormon church to court.
The story follows Ralph Stearns from his early years as a Utah Mormon, through his move to New York and embrace of secularism, and into his career as a lawyer. After a stressful, dehumanizing experience at a major law firm, Stearns and several of his colleagues establish their own firm representing stockholders in corporate litigation. They start small, but over the decades they grow into a lucrative enterprise. Stearns juggles mounting professional obligations and persistent family drama, but the novel reaches its stride late in Stearns’ career as he prepares to take on the biggest case of his career—a lawsuit taking on the Mormon church. The case accuses the church of fraud, based on its insistence on tithing despite its ample coffers. The story’s final half follows that case from beginning to end, as Stearns’ personal and professional lives reach their climaxes. The novel manages to combine courtroom drama with theological discussion, and the overall setup is interesting, particularly given the unique issues of the Mormon church. However, the story falls apart in its execution. Its long legal explorations may leave lay readers baffled, and may even leave legal professionals cold. Outside the courtroom, Ralph proves neither interesting nor sympathetic, as he lives a life filled with stock pathologies, including infidelity. The workmanlike prose aims for a knowing, world-weary tone (“The sex was as good as advertised”), but far too often, it feels unnecessary. Silverman, a former lawyer, makes an admirable effort to marry his expertise with the demands of a novel, but too often procedure trumps drama, and archetypes win out over realistic characters.
A novel with an intriguing premise, hampered by too much legalese.
Pub Date: May 5, 2014
ISBN: 978-1497328211
Page Count: 272
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
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
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
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