Gutcheon (Domestic Pleasures, 1991) has picked and probed the amusing-to-less-savory aspects of the private-school world before in The New Girls (1979); here, the fortunes of a pedagogically superior school are seen through the personal and professional crisises of its headmistress. Rue Shaw, of the Country School in California, truly believes that ``every child matters.'' Learning is demanding, yes, but her school's discipline is light and flexible. Then into the companionable, workable network of pupils, teachers, and parents stumbles the new board chairman—Chandler Kip (or the ``Herring,'' as Rue's surgeon-husband Henry calls him). Chandler hasn't a clue, of course, as to the successful dynamic of Rue's school and will use a sledgehammer approach when crises loom: a beloved veteran teacher goes a bit loopy; another talented art teacher is on the sauce; a bright but lethal kid does some dirty work; a child is suspected of being an abuse victim, etc. And then there's a parade of parents—fuming or petitioning—coming through Rue's office. Meanwhile, as the school year unfolds, Rue finds it more and more difficult to hold Chandler at bay. On top of that, a personal nightmare begins when her only child, the beautiful, talented Georgia, announces that she plans to leave Juilliard, where she's studied vocal music for one semester, to live in Manhattan with a ``composer'' of rock music. Henry and Rue, in their helpless anger and bafflement, begin to separate, but when the horrible and unthinkable happens, the break is absolute. By the close, though, reunion and resolution of a marriage will be hard-won. A delightful look at the irreverent camaraderie of the school office, though the novel often seems crowded with its two contentious elements—the death of a school and a shocking tragedy. Still, on the whole, involving.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-06-017678-4
Page Count: 320
Publisher: HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 1995
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
Four men who meet as college roommates move to New York and spend the next three decades gaining renown in their professions—as an architect, painter, actor and lawyer—and struggling with demons in their intertwined personal lives.
Yanagihara (The People in the Trees, 2013) takes the still-bold leap of writing about characters who don’t share her background; in addition to being male, JB is African-American, Malcolm has a black father and white mother, Willem is white, and “Jude’s race was undetermined”—deserted at birth, he was raised in a monastery and had an unspeakably traumatic childhood that’s revealed slowly over the course of the book. Two of them are gay, one straight and one bisexual. There isn’t a single significant female character, and for a long novel, there isn’t much plot. There aren’t even many markers of what’s happening in the outside world; Jude moves to a loft in SoHo as a young man, but we don’t see the neighborhood change from gritty artists’ enclave to glitzy tourist destination. What we get instead is an intensely interior look at the friends’ psyches and relationships, and it’s utterly enthralling. The four men think about work and creativity and success and failure; they cook for each other, compete with each other and jostle for each other’s affection. JB bases his entire artistic career on painting portraits of his friends, while Malcolm takes care of them by designing their apartments and houses. When Jude, as an adult, is adopted by his favorite Harvard law professor, his friends join him for Thanksgiving in Cambridge every year. And when Willem becomes a movie star, they all bask in his glow. Eventually, the tone darkens and the story narrows to focus on Jude as the pain of his past cuts deep into his carefully constructed life.
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.Pub Date: March 10, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-385-53925-8
Page Count: 720
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Dec. 21, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2015
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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