A surreal, sometimes-difficult narrative that will reward patient readers.
A university lawyer takes care of a monkey with humanlike tendencies in this debut novel.
Attorney Jim Drewry is in charge of monitoring a university study in which researchers are splicing human DNA with monkeys’ to find a cure for Parkinson’s disease. When a student involved in the study objects to the animals’ treatment, she opts to abandon it, and she leaves one of the genetically altered monkeys, named Eve, in Jim’s care. He’s initially reluctant to keep the animal, but then he begins to recognize what an extraordinary creature Eve is. She cries in a way that seems to convey emotional distress, a uniquely human expression, and her behavior makes Jim believe that she’s on some kind of “spiritual journey.” His son, Buck, and wife, Grace, take to Eve as well, treating her like an odd combination of pet and family member. As Jim interacts with the monkey, he also deals with the recent death of his son Thomas and goes on a troubling emotional quest. He begins to believe in alternate universes and questions whether it’s in humanity’s nature to seek spiritual knowledge. Although his preacher friend, Barry, attempts to help him, he seems overwhelmed by questions. During his moments of déjà vu, he worries that events are actually repeating themselves or that they’re occurring in other universes. (It doesn’t help that Jim is less-than-meticulous about taking his medication for mental problems.) It’s a lot for readers to take in, but Singer is a deft storyteller who engages with thorny religious and scientific questions while also crafting memorable characters. Some of Singer’s gambles don’t pay off completely—such as when he revisits past scenes in order to disorient readers or intersperses quasi-historical retellings of Jesus’ time on Earth—but their bravery is admirable, nonetheless. The disjointed narrative is likely to alienate some readers, especially near the end, when it’s increasingly difficult to know what’s actually happening and what’s a product of Jim’s imagination. Others, however, may enjoy Singer’s bold moves.
A surreal, sometimes-difficult narrative that will reward patient readers.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-0692342435
Page Count: 218
Publisher: Cactus Jack Press
Review Posted Online: April 2, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.
A violent surfacing of adolescence (which has little in common with Tarkington's earlier, broadly comic, Seventeen) has a compulsive impact.
"Nobody big except me" is the dream world of Holden Caulfield and his first person story is down to the basic, drab English of the pre-collegiate. For Holden is now being bounced from fancy prep, and, after a vicious evening with hall- and roommates, heads for New York to try to keep his latest failure from his parents. He tries to have a wild evening (all he does is pay the check), is terrorized by the hotel elevator man and his on-call whore, has a date with a girl he likes—and hates, sees his 10 year old sister, Phoebe. He also visits a sympathetic English teacher after trying on a drunken session, and when he keeps his date with Phoebe, who turns up with her suitcase to join him on his flight, he heads home to a hospital siege. This is tender and true, and impossible, in its picture of the old hells of young boys, the lonesomeness and tentative attempts to be mature and secure, the awful block between youth and being grown-up, the fright and sickness that humans and their behavior cause the challenging, the dramatization of the big bang. It is a sorry little worm's view of the off-beat of adult pressure, of contemporary strictures and conformity, of sentiment….
A strict report, worthy of sympathy.Pub Date: June 15, 1951
ISBN: 0316769177
Page Count: -
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: Nov. 2, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1951
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