Britisher Mawer's fourth novel and first to appear here is a riveting tour de force of science, suspense, philosophy, and—well, love. A research scientist in genetics, 38-year-old Benedict Lambert is a great-great-great-nephew of Gregor Mendel, the long- unrecognized Austrian priest who himself discovered genetics. Perhaps his kinship with Mendel pushed Lambert toward genetic research—though more likely it was the fact that Lambert himself is a genetic accident, a mutant: specifically, an achondroplastic dwarf. Tiny, with stubby limbs, huge head, and concave face, he causes most who see him to think of the circus. Little do they know, however, that he, like Mendel, is also a genius, seeking the one, chance-determined genetic signal—the ``single letter spelling mistake in thirty-three billion''—that causes achondroplastic dwarfs to be born. As he works, thus, at the forefront of genetic research, the question, of course, is whether he'll find his elusive quarry. Mawer's novel, though, isn't only about science, but also about people—and the suffering, acerbic, intelligent, thoughtful Lambert comes nothing if not alive. What is life like for a dwarf, and where is love to be found? Alternate chapters tell the century-old story of the stoic and celibate Mendel and the now- story of the equally stoic Lambert—including his love for charmingly mousy librarian Jean Piercey and the remarkable direction this love travels in: including not only pregnancy but a breath-stopping mystery that's unsolved (if then) until the end. Laboratory pyrotechnics, adultery, sex, outraged husband—all are narrated by the gifted Lambert, who, both as raconteur and as geneticist, knows that God, life, and chance are all one (he's ``peered behind the scenery. . . and there's nothing there''). Readable, engrossing, compelling, profound. A cornucopia of science—a veritable primer of genetics and DNA—and a story to boot that will wrench you, involve you, and leave you quite wilted. Wonderful.
Pub Date: March 1, 1998
ISBN: 0-609-60106-7
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Harmony
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1997
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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