An uneven fish-out-of-water story that doubles as a New Age enlightenment handbook.
A novel about an English businessman’s adjustment to life in Austria that takes the form of a spiritual journey.
Robert Wallace has little to hold him in the United Kingdom when he agrees to take a management position at a firm in a town in the Austrian countryside. Although he loves his children, they live with his ex-wife and her new husband, so he looks abroad for meaning in his life. In spite of his very limited command of the German language, he soon develops a full life in his new home. Each chapter begins with a description of one of the tarot’s Major Arcana, whose meaning plays out in the story that follows. Many of the new people that Robert meets have spiritual lessons to impart, such as the ailing Mrs. Mueller—“Empress” in the tarot—who teaches him about the power of dreams. As Robert progresses from “The Fool” to “The World,” he navigates the complexities of friendship, romance, and parenthood, all intensified by the challenges of learning a new culture. Searle uses this episodic format to delve into a number of serious issues, including xenophobia, mental illness, and abusive relationships, as his protagonist becomes increasingly involved in mysticism and the occult via classes in reiki healing and psychic reading. Overall, though, Searle’s narrative sometimes feels slow and overly detailed. The prose style is often distractingly stilted, such as when Robert describes a woman at one of his psychic workshops: “He could see that she had carefully tended her long locks of hair, which shone in the light.” The work as a whole is also unlikely to convince those readers who don’t already have a firm grounding in concepts of New Age spirituality. That said, a number of Robert’s struggles will likely ring true to many, especially at moments when he ruefully recognizes his own fallibility.
An uneven fish-out-of-water story that doubles as a New Age enlightenment handbook.Pub Date: Dec. 21, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5043-7117-9
Page Count: 436
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: April 24, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis...
Privately published by Strunk of Cornell in 1918 and revised by his student E. B. White in 1959, that "little book" is back again with more White updatings.
Stricter than, say, Bergen Evans or W3 ("disinterested" means impartial — period), Strunk is in the last analysis (whoops — "A bankrupt expression") a unique guide (which means "without like or equal").Pub Date: May 15, 1972
ISBN: 0205632645
Page Count: 105
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 28, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1972
This is not the Nutcracker sweet, as passed on by Tchaikovsky and Marius Petipa. No, this is the original Hoffmann tale of 1816, in which the froth of Christmas revelry occasionally parts to let the dark underside of childhood fantasies and fears peek through. The boundaries between dream and reality fade, just as Godfather Drosselmeier, the Nutcracker's creator, is seen as alternately sinister and jolly. And Italian artist Roberto Innocenti gives an errily realistic air to Marie's dreams, in richly detailed illustrations touched by a mysterious light. A beautiful version of this classic tale, which will captivate adults and children alike. (Nutcracker; $35.00; Oct. 28, 1996; 136 pp.; 0-15-100227-4)
Pub Date: Oct. 28, 1996
ISBN: 0-15-100227-4
Page Count: 136
Publisher: Harcourt
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 1996
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