Odd, elegant but incomplete portraits of a 20th-century icon and his needy disciple.
Woven together from fact and fiction, the story of Madeleine Slade, who became Mirabehn, one of Gandhi’s most devoted acolytes.
Kakar’s third novel (after Ecstasy, 2002) uses imagination to connect letters, diaries and reminiscences in establishing the intense relationship between Gandhi—who fought to liberate India from British colonial domination—and a privileged daughter of the English ruling class. Slade’s decision to join Gandhi’s ashram in 1925, when she was 33, was characteristic of a young woman driven by all-or-nothing attachments (a passion for Beethoven, an unrequited love). After a year’s preparation—sleeping on the floor, learning Urdu, spinning wool—she left for India and quickly became a close member of Gandhi’s inner circle. Their story is narrated by her Hindi teacher, Navin, who devotes less space to Gandhi’s politics and more to the idiosyncrasies of his lifestyle: his obsession with health and cleanliness; his moods; his experimental diet. Mira’s feelings for Gandhi are both reverential and possessive; she becomes frantic when separated from him. Their relationship follows a cyclical pattern: When her idolization becomes extreme, he withdraws or sends her away, then forgives her and writes letters expressing deep affection. Navin realizes he is not suited to Gandhi’s philosophy of celibacy and leaves the ashram. Later, as the political turmoil intensifies, Mira becomes infatuated with Prithvi Singh, who, despite Gandhi’s encouragement, fails to reciprocate her passion. The book ends in 1942, some years before independence, while Mira is last glimpsed in 1968 in an epilogue—now an old woman, retired to Austria, silent on the subject of Gandhi.
Odd, elegant but incomplete portraits of a 20th-century icon and his needy disciple.Pub Date: Jan. 15, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-59030-525-6
Page Count: 275
Publisher: Trumpeter/Shambhala
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.
Doerr presents us with two intricate stories, both of which take place during World War II; late in the novel, inevitably, they intersect.
In August 1944, Marie-Laure LeBlanc is a blind 16-year-old living in the walled port city of Saint-Malo in Brittany and hoping to escape the effects of Allied bombing. D-Day took place two months earlier, and Cherbourg, Caen and Rennes have already been liberated. She’s taken refuge in this city with her great-uncle Etienne, at first a fairly frightening figure to her. Marie-Laure’s father was a locksmith and craftsman who made scale models of cities that Marie-Laure studied so she could travel around on her own. He also crafted clever and intricate boxes, within which treasures could be hidden. Parallel to the story of Marie-Laure we meet Werner and Jutta Pfennig, a brother and sister, both orphans who have been raised in the Children’s House outside Essen, in Germany. Through flashbacks we learn that Werner had been a curious and bright child who developed an obsession with radio transmitters and receivers, both in their infancies during this period. Eventually, Werner goes to a select technical school and then, at 18, into the Wehrmacht, where his technical aptitudes are recognized and he’s put on a team trying to track down illegal radio transmissions. Etienne and Marie-Laure are responsible for some of these transmissions, but Werner is intrigued since what she’s broadcasting is innocent—she shares her passion for Jules Verne by reading aloud 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. A further subplot involves Marie-Laure’s father’s having hidden a valuable diamond, one being tracked down by Reinhold von Rumpel, a relentless German sergeant-major.
Doerr captures the sights and sounds of wartime and focuses, refreshingly, on the innate goodness of his major characters.Pub Date: May 6, 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4767-4658-6
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2014
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.
Crandall (Sleep No More, 2010, etc.) delivers big with a coming-of-age story set in Mississippi in 1963 and narrated by a precocious 9-year-old.
Due in part to tradition, intimidation and Jim Crow laws, segregation is very much ingrained into the Southern lifestyle in 1963. Few white children question these rules, least of all Starla Caudelle, a spunky young girl who lives with her stern, unbending grandmother in Cayuga Springs, Miss., and spends an inordinate amount of time on restriction for her impulsive actions and sassy mouth. Starla’s dad works on an oil rig in the Gulf; her mother abandoned the family to seek fame and fortune in Nashville when Starla was 3. In her youthful innocence, Starla’s convinced that her mother’s now a big singing star, and she dreams of living with her again one day, a day that seems to be coming more quickly than Starla’s anticipated. Convinced that her latest infraction is about to land her in reform school, Starla decides she has no recourse but to run away from home and head to Nashville to find her mom. Ill prepared for the long, hot walk and with little concept of time and distance, Starla becomes weak and dehydrated as she trudges along the hot, dusty road. She gladly accepts water and a ride from Eula, a black woman driving an old truck, and finds, to her surprise, that she’s not Eula’s only passenger. Inside a basket is a young white baby, an infant supposedly abandoned outside a church, whom Eula calls James. Although Eula doesn’t intend to drive all the way to Nashville, when she shows up at her home with the two white children, a confrontation with her husband forces her into becoming a part of Starla’s journey, and it’s this journey that creates strong bonds between the two: They help each other face fears as they each become stronger individuals. Starla learns firsthand about the abuse and scare tactics used to intimidate blacks and the skewed assumption of many whites that blacks are inferior beings. Assisted by a black schoolteacher who shows Eula and Starla unconditional acceptance and kindness, both ultimately learn that love and kinship transcend blood ties and skin color.
Young Starla is an endearing character whose spirited observations propel this nicely crafted story.Pub Date: July 2, 2013
ISBN: 978-1-4767-0772-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2013
BOOK REVIEW
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