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SANGAMA

A STORY OF THE AMAZON JUNGLE

A dark, disturbing, but beautifully described Amazonian adventure with overtones of Heart of Darkness.

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In the first English translation of a Peruvian classic, an ambitious young man arrives in the jungle to make his fortune and finds himself swept along on a mysterious adventure.

In the early 20th century, Abel Barcas arrives in the Amazonian village of Santa Ines to make a living in the burgeoning rubber trade. What he doesn’t expect is the drama of dispatching a corrupt, drunken governor and his vile minions, the Bull and the Piquicho. The new governor appoints Barcas as his partner in the rubber business and sends him on a journey to survey the surrounding jungle for harvestable rubber trees. He is accompanied by an intrepid explorer known as the Matero; the wise man and rumored sorcerer Sangama, who is seeking an ancient, legendary treasure; Sangama’s beautiful daughter, Chuya, with whom Barcas falls in love; and the villainous Bull and Piquicho. Together, the group encounters hurricane winds, ravenous anacondas, and what might be demon spirits that fill the darkest corners of the jungle. The novel, based on Peruvian author Hernández’s own experiences in the jungle, was first published in Spanish in 1942; this is the first time it has been available in English, thanks to the translation efforts of Enstam. It is an elegant, poetic translation, with Hernández’s passionate prose painting a vivid picture of the jungle’s untamed beauty and danger, giving readers a rare glimpse into a world that, at the time, was still mostly unspoiled by modern man. “Some maintain that the jungle is a green prison,” Sangama says. “Others claim that it is the true Hell. Others describe it as an environment fit only for the life of the trees, but not for the dwelling of men.” Barcas’ relationship with Chuya—and the novel’s treatment of women in general—is a bit shallow in some of its more testosterone-fueled moments, but one imagines (and hopes) that attitude is a relic of the time period.

A dark, disturbing, but beautifully described Amazonian adventure with overtones of Heart of Darkness.

Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2014

ISBN: 978-0978691400

Page Count: 358

Publisher: Quaestor Press, Limited

Review Posted Online: April 21, 2015

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2015

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THE THINGS WE DO FOR LOVE

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Life lessons.

Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.

Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.

Pub Date: July 1, 2004

ISBN: 0-345-46750-7

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Ballantine

Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004

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HOME FRONT

Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...

 The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.

The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart. 

Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.

Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012

ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9

Page Count: 400

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012

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