A well-crafted, satisfying family tale.
A debut novel tells the story of an 8-year-old boy acclimating to life in a new town.
Ohio, 1954. Jesse Hall’s parents’ marriage is on the rocks. His father gambles away their money, and his mother, Viola, suffers from mental illness. After Viola attempts suicide and then becomes pregnant, she takes Jesse away to start a new life without the boy’s father. After a brief stay with her parents that doesn’t go well, Viola and Jesse are forced to find a place of their own. They end up in Sabina, “The Eden of Ohio,” where a kindly landlord gives them a discounted apartment and an old sewing machine for Viola to make a living. Jesse meets some kind people, including Karen, the pretty woman who works at the Five and Dime, and Lynn Ott, another 8-year-old who doesn’t have a father. He also meets bullies, both young and old, who are unsympathetic to his difficult past. There is even a risk that a social worker will remove him from his mother’s care. Through that long first summer in Sabina, Jesse longs to live with any of his three half siblings and for his parents to get back together. He remembers the first rule his grandfather taught him—“Do no harm”—and says his prayers for his family: “I pray for healing for my mom and dad. I thank you for your blessings. Amen.” In his series opener, Hess writes in a measured prose that captures the subtleties of Jesse’s thoughts with precision and lyricism. Here the author describes Jesse’s reaction after his mother is hospitalized following a suicide attempt and his father tells them they have to move: “I turned the car radio on and pressed the button to a station playing Deck the Halls. I didn’t want to talk anymore. I stared out the car window. Kids were getting on buses. I kept manipulating the jacket zipper, but it stayed stuck in the middle while it was getting colder outside.” The book is not especially plot heavy, but it is a page-turner nonetheless. It harkens back to coming-of-age literature of a much earlier era, where lessons are gleaned slowly from observing the lives of other people.
A well-crafted, satisfying family tale.Pub Date: Oct. 25, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9995640-0-4
Page Count: 244
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 21, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Genetically engineered dinosaurs run amok in Crichton's new, vastly entertaining science thriller. From the introduction alone—a classically Crichton-clear discussion of the implications of biotechnological research—it's evident that the Harvard M.D. has bounced back from the science-fantasy silliness of Sphere (1987) for another taut reworking of the Frankenstein theme, as in The Andromeda Strain and The Terminal Man. Here, Dr. Frankenstein is aging billionaire John Hammond, whose monster is a manmade ecosystem based on a Costa Rican island. Designed as the world's ultimate theme park, the ecosystem boasts climate and flora of the Jurassic Age and—most spectacularly—15 varieties of dinosaurs, created by elaborate genetic engineering that Crichton explains in fascinating detail, rich with dino-lore and complete with graphics. Into the park, for a safety check before its opening, comes the novel's band of characters—who, though well drawn, double as symbolic types in this unsubtle morality play. Among them are hero Alan Grant, noble paleontologist; Hammond, venal and obsessed; amoral dino-designer Henry Wu; Hammond's two innocent grandchildren; and mathematician Ian Malcolm, who in long diatribes serves as Crichton's mouthpiece to lament the folly of science. Upon arrival, the visitors tour the park; meanwhile, an industrial spy steals some dino embryos by shutting down the island's power—and its security grid, allowing the beasts to run loose. The bulk of the remaining narrative consists of dinos—ferocious T. Rex's, voracious velociraptors, venom-spitting dilophosaurs—stalking, ripping, and eating the cast in fast, furious, and suspenseful set-pieces as the ecosystem spins apart. And can Grant prevent the dinos from escaping to the mainland to create unchecked havoc? Though intrusive, the moralizing rarely slows this tornado-paced tale, a slick package of info-thrills that's Crichton's most clever since Congo (1980)—and easily the most exciting dinosaur novel ever written. A sure-fire best-seller.
Pub Date: Nov. 7, 1990
ISBN: 0394588169
Page Count: 424
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 21, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1990
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