A provocative romp that pits men against women and goddesses against God to remind us that lust is with us, maybe to the end...
When two Wiccan goddesses bring their unfettered sexuality and eco-feminist fervor to Atlantis Springs, Mont., the town’s ruling Christian patriarchy are unamused—until our witchy heroines expose what’s really going on under the local covers.
Anaya Godkin believes the world would be a healthier place if humans got over their bodily shame and men stopped contaminating and dominating the earth. Fired from her teaching position at a California university after instigating a nude protest against a biotech center, Anaya, along with her daughter, Naomi, head for eastern Montana, where they have inherited, of all things, a former house of ill repute. The two soon lock horns with the Priesthood, a cabal of biblically inspired yet brutal men, and attempt to liberate the town’s cowering children and sexually repressed wives from their shameful secrets and their twisted religious masters. Anaya the witch is not without heart, however, and soon embarks on a side mission to save one guilt-ridden minister from his conflicted nature and his moral hypocrisy. Torrid sex scenes alternate with philosophical reflections on the virtues of paganism and the repressive theologies that replaced it—to provocative, steamy effect. The author’s tarot deck may be overly stacked with cardboard villains and whores with hearts of gold, but her tale rips along as female avengers go about vanquishing stereotypical oppressors, among them Republicans, anti-abortionists and climate-change deniers. Meadowlark writes with ease and élan, paces her tale cleverly and doesn’t flinch from comparing today’s news about global warming to the Book of Revelation. In fact, she brings the Bible fully into the moral discussion, testing it critically against her dogged faith in Gaian wholeness and the healing powers of sacred sex. “What the world needs now,” she says, “are dangerous women, women who are moral enough to risk immorality.” This naughty novel takes those risks, with bite, craft and, of course, lots of sex.
A provocative romp that pits men against women and goddesses against God to remind us that lust is with us, maybe to the end of times.Pub Date: Feb. 14, 2011
ISBN: 978-1460917121
Page Count: 412
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Aug. 11, 2011
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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