THE TALE OF MISS SUSIE AND HER STEAMBOAT

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THE TALE OF MISS SUSIE AND HER STEAMBOAT

Name: THE TALE OF MISS SUSIE AND HER STEAMBOAT
Author: Sonja Kreps
ISBN: 978-1-5059-0795-7

AND OTHER SONGS FROM YOUR CHILDHOOD EXPLAINED

From the Miss Susie series , Vol. 1

by Sonja Kreps ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 2, 2015

An ambitious but discordant mix of genres.

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A chick-lit thriller that draws on old children’s songs for inspiration.

In the popular playground rhyme “Miss Susie,” each line seems as if it will finish with an offensive word before it abruptly and humorously changes. This ying and yang of foul and funny permeates Kreps’ debut novel about “a party girl” whose life is tangled up with concepts from similar kidcentric rhymes. Susie, a recent college grad, and Will Johnson (“6’2”, dark hair, sparkling blue eyes, enough definition showing through his t-shirt and jeans to let her know he was an active guy”) meet-cute at lunchtime in a Cleveland park when they both stop at a purse vendor’s table. On a date that night, Will’s behavior is often charming, but he also does things that raise red flags, such as ordering for Susie at a restaurant without asking her what she wants. She ignores further bad omens until she accompanies Will to a remote cabin, at which point this edgy chick-lit novel becomes truly disturbing. There, Will blindfolds Susie, handcuffs her, and takes off her clothes. He also feeds her an ice cream sundae that contains nuts, knowing that she’s deathly allergic to them. Susie manages to escape the cabin, but after the police arrive, Will twists his version of events to make it appear that Susie was accosting him. Ultimately, this novel is cleverly written, and it’s full of credible millennial dialogue. Throughout, Kreps supplies a footnoted playlist of children’s song titles to accompany the story, such as “Found a Peanut” as Will tries to find Susie after she escapes from the cabin; a reference to “The Princess Pat” leads to a description of Susie’s friend Pat seeing “red and gold and purple too” because of the drugs that she’s taken. The resulting confluence of chick-lit, thriller, and storybook elements, though, often feels disjointed and forced. A more linear storyline might have been more beneficial, as the plot sometimes wanders too far away from Susie in order to concentrate on secondary characters.

An ambitious but discordant mix of genres.

Pub Date: Jan. 2, 2015

ISBN: 978-1-5059-0795-7

Page Count: 218

Publisher: CreateSpace

Review Posted Online: Feb. 14, 2017

Review Program: Kirkus Indie

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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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.

Pub Date: July 11, 1960

ISBN: 0060935464

Page Count: 323

Publisher: Lippincott

Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).