THE BUZZARDS

by Janet Burroway ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 1969

Eyes, a sharp first novel, introduced Miss Burroway: this, her third, is just as undeluded and unsettling, technically more accomplished and increasingly expanded in its subtle shifts of perspectives. Intellectual and emotional effects are always operative and sometimes opposed. One is intensely aware of the private lie behind the public persona -- say that of Alex, Senator from Arizona now campaigning and losing ground for the presidency; he's all ""Christianity and concern"" and his expansive benevolence has something of the charismatic simplicity of ? Then there's his wife Claudia, a seemingly unpliable, censorious if dutiful presence on the platform and at home. As seen by her children, all of them in a bad way at this particular time: Eleanor, like any well-intentioned government, failing under the worka-day pressures of getting breakfast for a husband and children she doesn't really want; Evie, the youngest, with her father's ready charm, taking up with a mestizo -- only a little brown; Orin, a painter, hiding out in Paris. All of this Alex, the great reconciler, manages to convert to rather favorable political use -- even the final tragedy...... Throughout Miss Burroway manages to say various things about contemporary life -- about freedom and deprivation and subjection; about choice -- is there any? about violence (one of the exigencies along with the buzzards); about inner dissension and His ultimate unity achieved at what a premium? The book, with the slow burn of dry ice, is not to be overlooked; Miss Burroway is a writer of satiric thrust, awareness, intelligence and conscience, a powerful combination indeed.

Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1969

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Little, Brown

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1969

Categories: FICTION