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GODHEAD

Name: GODHEAD
Author: Thomas Kinsella
ISBN: 1-901233-35-9

by Thomas Kinsella ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 15, 1999

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paper 1-901233-34-0 Kinsella’s voice has always carried a preternaturally haunted inflection, and in this exceedingly tidy volume—number 21 in the author’s Peppercannister series—his usual hauntings take on spiritual dimensions that carry them somewhere beyond the nameless dread we have come to expect of Irish poets generally without offering much in the way of either consummation or despair. The lay of the land is spelled out clearly in the choice of subject (—Trinity,— —Father,— —Son,— —Spirit—), but upon this metaphysical terrain Kinsella erects edifices that are purely naturalistic in their architecture and construction. Thus, the —Son— is portrayed from the perspective of the mother whose wonder at her own conception (—A Stranger fallen across her / in fierce relief, without love. / And the Adjustment in her body.—) conforms perfectly to the narrative of St. Luke, but could just as easily describe the meditations of any woman presented for the first time with the power of her own womb. Similarly, the —Spirit— is more of an ambiguous impulse (—A wind that passes and does not return—) than a divine force, but it is ambiguous enough (—Dust of our lastborn—) that we can’t chalk it up to one side or the other. The shadings are all here, and Kinsella uses them with the mute skill of an oracle, forcing us to the heavy work of drawing out the consequences he’s left lying on the table. Marvelous in its conception, very rich in its nuances: a work of rare subtlety and depth.

Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1999

ISBN: 1-901233-35-9

Page Count: 24

Publisher: Dedalus

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 1999

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

- IN THE NEWS
Irish Poet Thomas Kinsella Has Died at 93

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).

Pub Date: July 1, 2002

ISBN: 0-345-45071-X

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2002

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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by Kristin Hannah

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by Kristin Hannah

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.