A tale about a man’s mystical quest that should appeal to readers who believe in the power of prayer.
A debut novel explores a protracted spiritual odyssey that takes place during the late 1960s.
This story opens as its protagonist, Cary, reaches a low point in his life: no job, no money, and no wife. Devastated by the end of his seven-year marriage, he takes a therapist’s advice to heart: Cary must embark on a long process of soul-searching to discover what is at the root of his suffering. One of the first stops on this journey is a visit with his grandmother, who sheds light on a family tragedy that affected Cary more than he had realized. Readers may wish that Thomas had devoted more pages to their encounter, as this sharp character disappears from the novel entirely. Later, when Cary comes into some money and distributes handsome sums to family members, it seems baffling that she is not included or even mentioned. This is but one example of the structural problems that plague the narrative. Similarly, quite late in the novel, Cary comes to the understanding that his ulcer was a major contributing factor to the turmoil of his marriage, resulting in his divorce. What ulcer? A steadier plot element that builds a fair amount of suspense concerns Cary’s involvement with his brother Jim’s top-secret invention. During Cary’s negotiations with different companies about selling the rights to this potentially revolutionary device, he meets Molly, a love interest that resurfaces throughout the book. A simultaneous stint as a cemetery groundskeeper and interactions with mourners bring up issues of loss, death, forgiveness, and regret. Finally, Cary has an epiphany of sorts when a mysterious woman slowly erases herself from view, disappearing and reappearing twice in front of him and another witness. In a note, the author states that this turning point is presented exactly as it happened and is “true in every detail.” It is up to individual readers whether to accept this assertion at face value. Regardless, this woman’s message intensifies Cary’s determination to continue with his spiritual trek, which leads him to accept the importance of faith and prayer. As Cary explains to Molly, “You ask for what you want and then cling to the highest virtue, patience, then incidents will appear out of the blue and these events can change your life in ways you can’t now imagine.”
A tale about a man’s mystical quest that should appeal to readers who believe in the power of prayer.Pub Date: Nov. 17, 2009
ISBN: 978-0-9760923-3-9
Page Count: 444
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
APPRECIATIONS
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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