An original work of high distinction indeed: as fine a historical novel as any within recent memory, and far and away...
A full-dress fictionalization of the historic siege remembered as "the Texas holy of holies," from the veteran Texas Monthly contributor and novelist (Jacob's Well, 1984, etc.).
Harrigan's obviously fully researched reconstruction of the events of 1836, when a band of "Texians" determined to free "their" territory from Mexican control succumbed after a 13-day ordeal to the much larger Mexican Army, skillfully mingles together well-known historical figures with vividly realized fictional characters. Prominent among the latter are Terrell Mott, a 91-year-old survivor honored at ceremonies marking the siege's 75th anniversary in 1911, in the novel's moving prologue and epilogue; Terrell's mother, widowed Mary Mott, who courageously enters the very epicenter of the struggle, to be reconciled, and, if necessary, die with her loved ones; and Edmund McGowan, an itinerant botanist (hoping to complete his authoritative Flora Texana) for whom the Texas war of liberation becomes a transformative challenge to his lifelong suppression of his emotions and belief "in the governing majesty of the mind." Hot-blooded William Travis, infamous "knife-fighter" Jim Bowie, Congressman David Crockett from Tennessee, and their supposed confederate Sam Houston (whose troops arrive too late to avert the slaughter) are all memorably delineated, as are Mexico's "Presidente" General Santa Anna and two of his officers (both fictional) who grow to both maturity and disillusionment during the long campaign. Harrigan builds slowly and surely toward the story’s inevitable, impressive climax, examining in thrilling detail his several protagonists' quests for both freedom and fulfillment, foreshadowing deftly (for example, in a startling description of a tame parrot being swept up into the sky by a marauding hawk), and making us care deeply about the buttoned-up, self-despising Edmund and the heroic, very human woman who he knows in his heart is part of him.
An original work of high distinction indeed: as fine a historical novel as any within recent memory, and far and away Harrigan's best book yet. (First printing of 100,000; Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection/Quality Paperback Book Club selection)Pub Date: March 6, 2000
ISBN: 0-679-44717-2
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2000
Steinbeck's peculiarly intense simplicity of technique is admirably displayed in this vignette — a simple, tragic tale of Mexican little people, a story retold by the pearl divers of a fishing hamlet until it has the quality of folk legend. A young couple content with the humble living allowed them by the syndicate which controls the sale of the mediocre pearls ordinarily found, find their happiness shattered when their baby boy is stung by a scorpion. They dare brave the terrors of a foreign doctor, only to be turned away when all they can offer in payment is spurned. Then comes the miracle. Kino find a great pearl. The future looks bright again. The baby is responding to the treatment his mother had given. But with the pearl, evil enters the hearts of men:- ambition beyond his station emboldens Kino to turn down the price offered by the dealers- he determines to go to the capital for a better market; the doctor, hearing of the pearl, plants the seed of doubt and superstition, endangering the child's life, so that he may get his rake-off; the neighbors and the strangers turn against Kino, burn his hut, ransack his premises, attack him in the dark — and when he kills, in defense, trail him to the mountain hiding place- and kill the child. Then- and then only- does he concede defeat. In sorrow and humility, he returns with his Juana to the ways of his people; the pearl is thrown into the sea.... A parable, this, with no attempt to add to its simple pattern.
Pub Date: Nov. 24, 1947
ISBN: 0140187383
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Oct. 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 1947
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy,...
Britisher Haddon debuts in the adult novel with the bittersweet tale of a 15-year-old autistic who’s also a math genius.
Christopher Boone has had some bad knocks: his mother has died (well, she went to the hospital and never came back), and soon after he found a neighbor’s dog on the front lawn, slain by a garden fork stuck through it. A teacher said that he should write something that he “would like to read himself”—and so he embarks on this book, a murder mystery that will reveal who killed Mrs. Shears’s dog. First off, though, is a night in jail for hitting the policeman who questions him about the dog (the cop made the mistake of grabbing the boy by the arm when he can’t stand to be touched—any more than he can stand the colors yellow or brown, or not knowing what’s going to happen next). Christopher’s father bails him out but forbids his doing any more “detecting” about the dog-murder. When Christopher disobeys (and writes about it in his book), a fight ensues and his father confiscates the book. In time, detective-Christopher finds it, along with certain other clues that reveal a very great deal indeed about his mother’s “death,” his father’s own part in it—and the murder of the dog. Calming himself by doing roots, cubes, prime numbers, and math problems in his head, Christopher runs away, braves a train-ride to London, and finds—his mother. How can this be? Read and see. Neither parent, if truth be told, is the least bit prepossessing or more than a cutout. Christopher, though, with pet rat Toby in his pocket and advanced “maths” in his head, is another matter indeed, and readers will cheer when, way precociously, he takes his A-level maths and does brilliantly.
A kind of Holden Caulfield who speaks bravely and winningly from inside the sorrows of autism: wonderful, simple, easy, moving, and likely to be a smash.Pub Date: June 17, 2003
ISBN: 0-385-50945-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2003
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