A bit sudsy, but sharp dialogue and solid, fast-paced storytelling make for a gratifying read.
This winning sequel to Tryin’ to Sleep in the Bed You Made (1997) revisits childhood friends Pat, Marcus and Gayle.
Nearing 40, the three have found success in Manhattan. Marcus, a former ball player, is now a successful sport’s agent, while his wife Pat and best friend Gayle own and operate the Ell & Me Company, creating popular storybooks and dolls. In the 1997 novel, the lives of Gayle and her daughter Vanessa were nearly ruined (they were stuck in a homeless shelter thanks to Gayle’s gambling husband Ramsey, now long gone—or is he?), but the two have moved on to a more prosperous, if not happier life. Vanessa is a spoiled teen who wants to pursue a dancing career, while Gayle binges and purges, trying to maintain a façade of calm. Meanwhile, Pat and Marcus seem like an A-list couple, but the reality is sadder, with the two too busy moving and shaking to realize how lonely they are. Spanning a few years, the novel starts with a shock for Marcus when 18-year-old Tiffani shows up wanting to meet her daddy. A paternity test lets Marcus off the hook, but, harboring a desire for kids of his own, he still wants to help her. Pat arranges for Tiffani to go to boarding school, then college and then take a job with Ell & Me. Hardworking Tiffani seems too good to be true—and she is. If only Vanessa could be so focused, but instead she drops out of school, moves in with her abusive boyfriend and kindly lets Gayle know where her monthly allowance can be sent. Tiffani grows ever successful in her manipulation of others, Vanessa and Gayle do battle in their own private hells, Pat and Marcus become increasingly separate and Gayle is insisting Pat sell out to the big manufacturer that wants to buy their company. The road to happiness for the gang is long.
A bit sudsy, but sharp dialogue and solid, fast-paced storytelling make for a gratifying read.Pub Date: Jan. 8, 2008
ISBN: 978-1-4165-3167-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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