A spirited adventure that takes itself too seriously.
Bacino presents a revisionist novel set in Elizabethan England.
Who wrote the plays now attributed to Shakespeare? Was it the actor from Stratford who ascended rapidly from unknown player to admired playwright? Or was someone else behind the Bard’s words? Bacino suspects the latter and builds his case in this novel, which is, as he reminds readers on the cover, in the preface and with the appendix, “based entirely on historical facts.” Christopher Marlowe, the most famous dramatist of his day, was killed in a bar brawl at the age of 29. But Bacino posits that his supposed death was an elaborate hoax, and Shakespeare, who is disparaged as “Horsy Will, the pony boy” (definitely not an historical accuracy) for his occupation tending to the steeds of noblemen attending the theater, was hired as a front so that Marlowe might continue to produce plays after his staged demise. Here, Shakespeare emerges as a dim, uninterested rube; Marlowe, on the other hand, is a dandy, churning out masterpieces from behind the protective walls of his lover Sir Thomas Walsingham’s castle. But when suspicions arise and similarities between Shakespeare’s plays and Marlowe’s work emerge, Marlowe must flee England; questions about his role in the Bard’s plays, however, dog him for the rest of the novel and beyond. This book tries to reanimate a centuries-old debate but struggles under the weight of its purported historicity. If Bacino had lightened his touch, this could be a fun, though purely speculative, romp. Instead, the author presents more than 50 pages of endnotes detailing the alleged facts upon which the novel is based—occasionally interspersed with admissions of fictive elements, such as Shakespeare’s pejorative nickname. These facts are not noted within the text nor are their sources cited; lacking proper documentation, they aren’t especially strong evidence for Bacino’s theory. Wanting to be taken on an adventure, the reader is instead left worried about the credentials of the tour guide.
A spirited adventure that takes itself too seriously.Pub Date: Jan. 7, 2011
ISBN: 978-1452050652
Page Count: 300
Publisher: AuthorHouse
Review Posted Online: March 17, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
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Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
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