Turning once again to WW II, bestselling historical novelist Fleming (Over There, 1992, etc.) blends fact and fiction to explore the ramifications of the Allied demand for unconditional surrender through the lives of four people. His ``facts,'' however, are at the very least open to differing interpretations and may anger some readers. In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman experiences a mystical religious conversion when she sees the horror of Kristallnacht and the bravery of a young German Lutheran pastor, leading her to become a secret agent for the German Resistance. This puts her at odds with her husband, Ernst, a dedicated U-boat commander whose unstinting commitment to his nation's cause will eventually lead him to lose his sense of honor. Shortly before Pearl Harbor, Ernst's U-boat mistakenly sinks the USS Spencer Lewis and then rescues from the sea Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Talbot. This young officer is outspoken with his doubts about the way FDR is maneuvering America into the war, putting him at odds with his wife, Annie, the daughter of a powerful Democratic pol. Both men end up as naval attachÇs in neutral Spain within months. There, Berthe and Jonathan begin a star-crossed affair, both working for some acceptable negotiated resolution to the fighting short of unconditional surrender. Ernst goes back to sea and then to a desk job high in the German Command, and Annie becomes a top-notch political reporter and eventually a war correspondent. Through a series of unlikely coincidences, their four paths cross again and again throughout the war, culminating in an improbable rescue mission during the fall of Berlin. Fleming makes a good case for the wrongheadedness of the Allies' policy of no compromise and their denial of the existence of a resistance movement. But he hurts his credibility with unstinting antagonism toward FDR and virtually every New Deal figure who appears in these pages. Melodramatic as always, but more controversial than usual. ($30,000 ad/promo)
Pub Date: June 1, 1994
ISBN: 0-06-017709-8
Page Count: 464
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1994
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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