An odyssey of the mad that manages to coat warfare in black humor without losing sight of the price being paid by those...
The Gulf War never seemed so fun—or horrific.
The lack of serious fiction about the Gulf War is lessened somewhat by the arrival of this ferociously funny adventure by first-novelist Paine (stories: Scar Vegas, 2000). While not having crystallized the conflict’s insanity in quite the manner Joseph Heller did for WWII or Larry Heinemann for Vietnam, Paine acquits himself admirably—and, to be fair, if only in its brevity, the Gulf War was a mere commercial break compared to those earlier wars and may never receive its literary due. In terms that narrator/hero Cody Carmichael might approve of, Paine’s story can be likened to what might happen if Jeff Spiccoli of Fast Times at Ridgemont High became a marine, hitched up with not-quite-sane fellow jarhead Tommy Trang, and was dropped into the middle of the farcical film Three Kings. With prototypic surfer cool, Cody tells the story in a smooth flow of stoned beach patois that highlights the situation’s rapidly increasing madness. On the eve of war, Cody and Tommy become convinced there are untapped seams of pearls at the bottom of the Persian Gulf waiting to be dug up—and so go AWOL to retrieve them. While in the water at night, they interrupt a naked, gorgeous, 16-year-old Kuwaiti princess’s suicide attempt, and the two are whisked off to Kuwait City and honored for their accidental rescue—while Cody figures out that Tommy has fallen for the princess. War comes, Kuwait is occupied, Tommy and Cody get word that Tommy’s beloved princess has been taken captive, and they take off to rescue her again. The sheer assault of episode, action, humor, horror, and epic scenery that follows—all related in Cody’s easygoing yet easily awed dudespeak—is enough for a shelf-load of lesser novels.
An odyssey of the mad that manages to coat warfare in black humor without losing sight of the price being paid by those caught up in its deadly whirlwind.Pub Date: March 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-15-100518-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2003
BOOK REVIEW
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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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