by Stanley Elkin ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 13, 1967
Elkin, whose Boswell (1964) heralded a major talent, continues to dazzle; he's got the wit, he's got the words, but he still lacks a story capable of attracting and holding a large audience. Boswell almost had it. The title character, driven by the sudden recognition of his eventual death to continuous, stupendous efforts at gate-crashing, in order to live it up, however vicariously, every remaining moment, went on for too long and was finally stretched too thin. Criers and Kibitzers. Kibitzers and Criers (1965) a collection of nine Elkin stories (which had prominent-to-prestigious magazine exposure) showed some of the same flaws of Boswell and here the story goes on long past the point where readers have gotter the message. And, the cumulative effect of pettiness magnified, even while taking into account some brilliant comic passages, leads to a state of reader-bloat. Feldman, this title's bad man, is convicted of fixing (arranging abortions, the satisfaction of perversions, prescriptions for drugs, guns for fanatics) in his department store basement. This has been as profitless as the petty cruelties practiced on family and associates, both motivated by curiosity rather than satisfaction. Early on it is revealed that Feldman has a petrified homonculus over his heart and one blow to his chest will kill him. Less than halfway through the book, it is apparent that the blow will be delivered at the most ironic moment, the end of Feldman's sentence. Even in prison, Feldman is outside humanity and only the warden and the inmates and their stories achieve occasional significance. Feldman represents not a man, but a good short story gone bad at novel length.
Pub Date: Oct. 13, 1967
ISBN: 1564783324
Page Count: 338
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: March 28, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1967
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by J.D. Salinger ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 15, 1951
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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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2006
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
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