A heartfelt—but somewhat predictable—coming-of-age story and romance featuring well-crafted characters.
In this debut novel, a small town shuns an unwed mother as her son struggles with his future and the way the world sees their family.
In the small, conservative, and rural town of Alton, Pennsylvania, young mother Lou Metcalf stands out, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons. Raising three children from three different fathers all on her own, Lou often has to avoid the glances of other women, who judge her harshly as immoral and a bad influence. She also must distance herself from the husbands around town, who inevitably start stumbling over themselves like high schoolers in the presence of her beauty. Lou’s son Derek has also paid the price for her romantic entanglements. Targeted by town rich kid and bully Carl Cross and often a source of gossip, Derek has been shunned by his peers. His social world revolves around a gang of fellow smart and sensitive misfits who call themselves the ZONCs. He also lunches with the soulful school janitor, Cal. Every day, Cal reveals a little more of his own life story, one in which he could not read until he was age 15, to try to convince Derek to not give up on his studies and to pursue college. But a serious challenge is on the horizon for all of them as a new romance blooms in Lou’s life when one of the husbands she has avoided opens up to her in unexpected ways. Ace’s narrative moves easily from coming-of-age story to forbidden romance to an anthology of small-town life. While many of the familiar tropes and clichés found in these genres surface in her work—like the wise old janitor or the band of nerdy but good-hearted kids—Ace delivers something special in the strong character of Lou. The author provides succinct, memorable descriptions like “She didn’t ‘make’ conversation. When Lou spoke, her words were real. She offered herself with her words.” While the tales of Ace’s cast don’t hold many surprises, these evocative moments help create fully developed players who keep her novel intriguing.
A heartfelt—but somewhat predictable—coming-of-age story and romance featuring well-crafted characters.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5127-2194-2
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Westbow Press
Review Posted Online: June 11, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
Constructed with delicacy, lyricism, and care, Hertmans’ novel still feels occasionally static.
A Christian woman and a Jewish man fall in love in medieval France.
In 1088, a Christian girl of Norman descent falls in love with the son of a rabbi. They run away together, to disastrous effect: Her father sends knights after them, and though they flee to a small southern village where they spend a few happy years, their budding family is soon decimated by a violent wave of First Crusaders on their way to Jerusalem. The girl, whose name becomes Hamoutal when she converts to Judaism, winds up roaming the world. Hertmans’ (War and Turpentine, 2016, etc.) latest novel is based on a true story: The Cairo Genizah, a trove of medieval manuscripts preserved in an Egyptian synagogue, contained an account of Hamoutal’s plight. Hamoutal makes up about half of Hertmans’ novel; the other half is consumed by Hertmans’ own interest in her story. Whenever he can, he follows her journey: from Rouen, where she grew up, to Monieux, where she and David Todros—her Jewish husband—made a brief life for themselves, and all the way to Cairo, and back. “Knowing her life story and its tragic end,” Hertmans writes, “I wish I could warn her of what lies ahead.” The book has a quiet intimacy to it, and in his descriptions of landscape and travel, Hertmans’ prose is frequently lovely. In Narbonne, where David’s family lived, Hertmans describes “the cool of the paving stones in the late morning, the sound of doves’ wings flapping in the immaculate air.” But despite the drama of Hamoutal’s story, there is a static quality to the book, particularly in the sections where Hertmans describes his own travels. It’s an odd contradiction: Hertmans himself moves quickly through the world, but his book doesn’t quite move quickly enough.
Constructed with delicacy, lyricism, and care, Hertmans’ novel still feels occasionally static.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-5247-4708-4
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2019
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