A chaotic mashup of a Beltway political thriller and several fractured fairy tales.
A debut satirical novel presents a lobbyist as literally a puppet.
In London’s tale, Max Wiggs, reporter for the Washington Star, introduces Pinocchio as a junior analyst for the Kronos Group, “the first firm dedicated solely to lobbying the government of the United States.” Unfortunately, Pinocchio feels “meaningless” both at work and at home with his wife, Whitney; 5-year-old son, Albero; and father, Geppetto. After a fender bender with Congressman Frank Barnes, Pinocchio, “at the urging of his boss,” tells the press that Barnes’ female companion was his secretary, earning Pinocchio ironic praise as “the last honest man in Washington.” For his own nefarious reasons, CEO Charles Stevens promotes Pinocchio to junior partner, and the wooden-headed up-and-comer cheerfully champions a slew of bills across the country. Reveling in his newfound success, Pinocchio neglects his family—“You’re just a puppet to them!” Whitney shouts—and forces Geppetto into assisted living, threatens his son, and dallies with a sexy co-worker. As Pinocchio’s personal life falls apart, so does the novel’s first-person narration. Suddenly an omniscient narrator describes characters’ interior lives, including that of Wiggs himself (“Max leapt up”), although the reporter’s voice reappears intermittently. When Pinocchio must testify on behalf of a bill that would wipe out the Environmental Protection Agency or lose his job, his nose grows into “a 24-inch wooden branch, complete with bark and leaves” and his skin hardens into “a smooth, sanded surface.” From this point on, Pinocchio’s journey goes full-on fantasy, remixing elements from The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, complete with a gift-bestowing Fairy Queen, talking cockroaches, and comforting supporters whispering, “I believe in you.” Meanwhile, Stevens kidnaps Whitney and Albero, and Wiggs assists in a far-fetched, action-packed climax that involves a familiar whale. Despite some promising satirical insights and well-written dialogue, the extreme situations, otherworldly elements, and heavy moralizing (“It’s time to get back to who you are, and in that, find what you are”) give readers too little to believe in.
A chaotic mashup of a Beltway political thriller and several fractured fairy tales.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5151-2356-9
Page Count: 428
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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