An imperfect flight of war-era fancy that still manages to stick the landing.
A young pilot finds a way to serve her country and secure her own freedom in McLaren (Song of Time, 1996, etc.) and debut author Garcia’s historical novel.
As the Allies in World War II begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the war in the sky takes center stage. Both German and Allied troops are racing to build a faster fighter jet that’s capable of clearing the way for their invading armies. In America, this results in Operation Archangel, a top-secret plan to corner the market on chromium—a metal needed to build supersonic jets—by any means necessary. Wallace Doyle, the son of the U.S. ambassador to Ireland, gets recruited by the Nazis to spy on the American operation. Meanwhile, Sprite Shannon, a young woman from rural Georgia, also gets caught up in the international game of espionage after her father’s death forces her to find a way to support herself with her piloting skills. She joins the Women’s Army Service Pilots, or W.A.S.P., and begins her training to become one of the first female military pilots in U.S. history. Along the way, she makes a mortal enemy of Doyle and unwittingly becomes involved in Operation Archangel—all while competing for status in her organization and falling in love with a shellshocked Air Force pilot. Although this book takes substantial liberties with World War II history, it weaves an exciting story around its central characters, whose lives constantly overlap in unexpected ways. Sprite is a likable protagonist who constantly beats the odds through determination and charm, and several other players are also well-drawn. The dialogue tends to be unfortunately on the nose, though, as in Sprite’s speech: “Seems like I’m different from the person I was even two weeks ago. I’ve always had responsibilities with keeping our house and helping Daddy in the business, and school, of course—but this feels so different. This is…what my father called my ‘destiny.’ ” However, it doesn’t usually slow the story down.
An imperfect flight of war-era fancy that still manages to stick the landing.Pub Date: June 30, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-9975689-0-5
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Saphirion Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 11, 2016
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
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BOOK REVIEW
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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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