A tale full of juvenile embellishment aimed squarely at sophisticated adults.
A wealthy New York City family hits the skids and is forced to move into Central Park.
Famously the staff cartoonist for The New Yorker, Roberts brings her strengths and whimsical sense of humor to bear in this heavily illustrated but lightly written novel. The dramatis personae introduced here include Pops, an inventor whose creations have made the family filthy rich; Mother, a bone-skinny matriarch with a perpetual cigarette; Sis, a young performer destined for fringe theater; our narrator, the sweet-natured brother, Alan; as well as servants Gudelia and Usvelia and three pugs. When the family loses everything, they mysteriously find themselves living in the midst of Central Park. Not quite homeless, the family winds up bringing everything, from their couch to their doorman, with them. It’s all quite idyllic at first, as Mother kills swans in the park for coq au vin, and Pops works on inventions like the Diplomatix, an effervescent tablet that teaches how to think like the French. But as Christmas looms, the family dynamics start coming apart at the seams. The illustrations, as one might imagine, are the book’s most winning attribute. Roberts is consistent in her portrayals of the odd family while simultaneously throwing in absurdities, like the sea monster Sis imagines lives in the pond and the Yeti that comes to visit during the winter. But for all the wonders of Roberts’ illustrations, the story is fitfully funny in a style reminiscent of Wes Anderson films. Alan is particularly funny, popping out lines like, “I’m learning Italian. This morning at the Met, I followed a group led by a female guide in Italian. I’m going to acquire Japanese, too, via osmosis.” Those who can’t stand the dandy-ish style of The New Yorker may find this avant-garde children’s book for adults off-putting. For those who value absurdity and have a soft spot for anthropomorphic animals, it’s a richly illustrated treat.
A tale full of juvenile embellishment aimed squarely at sophisticated adults.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-393-07355-3
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Norton
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2012
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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