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
An elegant, pithy performance by a first-time novelist who couldn’t seem more familiar with his characters or territory.
Manhattan in the late 1930s is the setting for this saga of a bright, attractive and ambitious young woman whose relationships with her insecure roommate and the privileged Adonis they meet in a jazz club are never the same after an auto accident.
Towles' buzzed-about first novel is an affectionate return to the post–Jazz Age years, and the literary style that grew out of it (though seasoned with expletives). Brooklyn girl Katey Kontent and her boardinghouse mate, Midwestern beauty Eve Ross, are expert flirts who become an instant, inseparable threesome with mysterious young banker Tinker Grey. With him, they hit all the hot nightspots and consume much alcohol. After a milk truck mauls his roadster with the women in it, permanently scarring Eve, the guilt-ridden Tinker devotes himself to her, though he and she both know he has stronger feelings for Katey. Strong-willed Katey works her way up the career ladder, from secretarial job on Wall Street to publisher’s assistant at Condé Nast, forging friendships with society types and not allowing social niceties to stand in her way. Eve and Tinker grow apart, and then Kate, belatedly seeing Tinker for what he is, sadly gives up on him. Named after George Washington's book of moral and social codes, this novel documents with breezy intelligence and impeccable reserve the machinations of wealth and power at an historical moment that in some ways seems not so different from the current one. Tinker, echoing Gatsby, is permanently adrift. The novel is a bit light on plot, relying perhaps too much on description. But the characters are beautifully drawn, the dialogue is sharp and Towles avoids the period nostalgia and sentimentality to which a lesser writer might succumb.
An elegant, pithy performance by a first-time novelist who couldn’t seem more familiar with his characters or territory.Pub Date: July 25, 2011
ISBN: 978-0-670-02269-4
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2011
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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