A rock journalist sacrifices her relationship with a brilliant rock musician when her fear of flying threatens to hold back his career.
DeBartolo (The God-Shaped Hole, 2001) treats rock music as high art in this self-important romance. After landing an interview with her idol, legendary rocker Doug Blackman, fledgling journalist Eliza Caelum moves to Manhattan to take a job with a music magazine. She finds herself sharing an apartment with Paul Hudson, lead singer of the band Bananafish, who takes his music very seriously and loves the same Doug Blackman song as she: “The Day I Became a Ghost” (Blackman’s no Dylan, or even Dave Mathews.) Soon, Paul and Eliza have fallen deeply in love. Paul’s talent begins to bring the band attention both from an independent producer and from a mega-corporate record company. Drawn to the independent, Paul nevertheless signs with the corporate jerks for the sake of his fellow band members’ financial interest. Despite his own misgivings about becoming a sellout, Eliza is thrilled for him. He, in turn, proposes marriage and wants her to accompany him on tour. Unfortunately, that would entail flying. Her airplane phobia began when her parents died in a plane crash and intensified after she witnessed the 9/11 attack. Not about to let her unwillingness to fly derail Paul’s career, she lets Doug Blackman’s son Loring, a handsome mainstream musician (i.e., sellout) with an obvious crush on her, kiss her when she knows Paul will see them. As expected, Paul assumes the worst. He goes on tour alone and sleeps with a groupie. Eliza moves in with Loring while pining for Paul and his pure rock-’n’-roll soul. Paul’s album bombs because it isn’t commercial enough. Paul and Eliza reunite and make love. Paul commits suicide. Or does he.
Either DeBartolo’s satire is very subtle or this is the most pretentious novel about rock music ever written.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2005
ISBN: 1-4022-0521-X
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Sourcebooks Landmark
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2005
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Privileged 30-somethings hide from their woes in Nantucket.
Hilderbrand’s saga follows the lives of Melanie, Brenda and Vicki. Vicki, alpha mom and perfect wife, is battling late-stage lung cancer and, in an uncharacteristically flaky moment, opts for chemotherapy at the beach. Vicki shares ownership of a tiny Nantucket cottage with her younger sister Brenda. Brenda, a literature professor, tags along for the summer, partly out of familial duty, partly because she’s fleeing the fallout from her illicit affair with a student. As for Melanie, she gets a last minute invite from Vicki, after Melanie confides that Melanie’s husband is having an affair. Between Melanie and Brenda, Vicki feels her two young boys should have adequate supervision, but a disastrous first day on the island forces the trio to source some outside help. Enter Josh, the adorable and affable local who is hired to tend to the boys. On break from college, Josh learns about the pitfalls of mature love as he falls for the beauties in the snug abode. Josh likes beer, analysis-free relationships and hot older women. In a word, he’s believable. In addition to a healthy dose of testosterone, the novel is balanced by powerful descriptions of Vicki’s bond with her two boys. Emotions run high as she prepares for death.
Nothing original, but in Hilderbrand’s hands it’s easy to get lost in the story.Pub Date: July 2, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-316-01858-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2007
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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