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
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
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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