A fine first novel and an insightful meditation on the repercussions of war.
Traumatized by his tour of duty in Vietnam, Nick Dwyer undertakes a life journey to attain acceptance, forgiveness and unconditional love in this debut novel.
First-time author Nicholls is clearly a born storyteller. This fictionalized memoir starts in 1965, when the protagonist, Nick, was a stateside soldier champing at the bit to see action in Vietnam and follows him through decades of coming to terms with the effects of the war. After more than 20 years of post-traumatic stress disorder, one failed and one failing marriage, drug abuse and alcoholism, Nick returns to Vietnam in 1987 to try to track down the Vietnamese girlfriend he left behind when his tour of duty ended. He soon becomes involved in efforts to aid children of American soldiers and Vietnamese women. Several Vietnam trips over the next six years lead him to his true love, a woman named Hang, and to other unexpected friendships and reunions. Nick participates in satisfying efforts to normalize relations between Vietnam and the United States, as well as projects to build medical clinics and schools. He also deals with trickery, conspiracy, politics and fits of rage that overwhelm him in tense situations. The novel’s basis in memoir has its plusses and minuses: Although the bedrock of truth prevents the tale from slipping into stereotype and cliché, the messiness of real life produces a disorganized plot structure and an unwieldy roster of characters. Overall, however, the author, like his character, comes across as extraordinarily honest about his demons while working hard to cling to his ideals.
A fine first novel and an insightful meditation on the repercussions of war.Pub Date: Nov. 27, 2012
ISBN: 978-1480158153
Page Count: 468
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2013
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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