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MANITUANA

Name: MANITUANA
Author: Wu Ming
ISBN: 978-1-84467-342-1

by Wu Ming and translated by Shaun Whiteside ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 5, 2009

A worthy treatment of a history too little known, though nowhere near as delightful or as quirky as Q and ’54.

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Odd, spirited, tale of educated Indians, savage Europeans and bad mojo in the American outback at the time of the Revolutionary War.

The Italian fiction collective known as Wu Ming is back, having traversed an odd trail from Reformation-era Europe (Q, 2004, as Luther Blissett) and Hollywood (’54, 2006) to the woodlands of upstate New York. The Iroquois Confederation has been running the show for a few centuries, thank you very much, but now upstart colonists east of the fall line are casting covetous glances at the rich interior of America. Mohawk leader Joseph Brant is determined to keep the Americans away and preserve the English crown, and, though a man more civilized than most of his enemies, he is prepared to use whatever means necessary. So are the enemies, however; in a reversal of the Drums Along the Mohawk school of historical fiction, the Americans are the bad guys (“Ethan Allen was a bloodthirsty brigand…he recruited a gang of criminals, the Green Mountain Boys, and pronounced himself their colonel”). Wise women, sage warriors, British nobles, generals and privates, greedy developers and even a few heroes, figure into the proceedings. The scenes are laid out as tableaux, some reminiscent of colonial-era paintings (“Indians and Highlanders mounted guard at the entrance to the avenue. Further on, the dwellings of the slaves, sun-drenched. Children who were little more than infants rolled around amongst dogs and chickens”), all presenting a very European view of the American essence. The battle scenes are particularly well done, even if the dialogue among Indians is straight from the pages of Karl May. There’s a touch too much channeling of modern sensibilities, too, as when one character muses, “What the fuck do they get out of it, these fine gentlemen from Nobshire.”

A worthy treatment of a history too little known, though nowhere near as delightful or as quirky as Q and ’54.

Pub Date: Oct. 5, 2009

ISBN: 978-1-84467-342-1

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Verso

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2009

Categories:

HISTORICAL FICTION | GENERAL FICTION

- BOOK REVIEW
54
by Wu Ming & translated by Shaun Whiteside

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TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

by Harper Lee ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 11, 1960

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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

Categories:

GENERAL FICTION

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by Harper Lee

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DISTANT SHORES

by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2002

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her...

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Another middle-aged mom in a muddle.

After years of false starts and big hopes, Elizabeth’s ruggedly handsome husband Jack, a former football star, just landed a spot as a sportscaster on national news. He still loves her, even though much younger women are giving him come-hither looks. Heck, he doesn’t want to betray the love of his life after she helped him kick drugs and stuck by him even when he was a struggling has-been. And won’t it seem hypocritical if he fools around with his sexy assistant while he does in-depth reporting on a rape case involving a famous basketball center? Well, he fools around anyway. Elizabeth, nicknamed Birdie, knows nothing of this, but she withdraws from Jack when her hard-drinking, salt-of-the-earth father has a stroke and dies. Now no one will call her “sugar beet” ever again. Time to return home to Tennessee and contend with Anita, the sort-of-evil stepmother so trashy she wears pink puffy slippers all day long. Naturally, it turns out that Anita actually has a heart of gold and knows a few things about Birdie’s dead mother that were hushed up for years. Mom was an artist, just like Birdie, and an old scandal comes to light as Anita unrolls a vibrant canvas that portrays her secret lover. Perhaps, Birdie muses, her mother died of heartbreak, never having followed her true love or developed her talent. Has she, too, compromised everything she holds dear? Hoping to find out, Birdie joins a support group that promises to reconnect confused women with their passion. She and Jack separate, prompting a how-dare-you fit from their grown daughters. Will Birdie fly her empty nest? Will she go back to college for a degree in art? Will her brooding watercolors ever sell?

Soft-focus story moves right along with few surprises. This time around, Hannah avoids the soap-opera complications of her previous tales (Summer Island, 2001, etc.).