Not for the squeamish, but skillful, often elegant prose compensates for a disturbing tale about an American mission in...
Cyrenaica—once part of the nation of Tripoli—becomes the setting for a historical novel detailing the brutal 1805 trek through the Sahara Desert during the U.S.’s first foreign military action.
King Yusuf Vartoonian of Tripoli (now Libya) has captured 300 American mariners and is holding them for ransom. When Yusuf has 10 of them beheaded, President Thomas Jefferson is under pressure to show that his government can protect its citizens. A deal is struck between the U.S. and Yusuf’s older brother Prince Ahmad, who is the rightful heir to the throne. If Yusuf is overthrown and Ahmad given financial incentives, the Americans will be released. And so, fictional 19-year-old Pvt. Lemuel Sweet, the earnest, intelligent central protagonist, finds himself with a small group of Marines and a collection of Egyptians, Greeks, Arabs, and assorted misfits of various nationalities trudging through the unforgiving terrain of the Sahara. Among the members of this disharmonious coalition is Gustav Ladendorf, a Swiss engineer and speaker of many languages. When the group’s Egyptian translator is found dead (with his body mutilated), Ladendorf steps into the role. The journey from Alexandria to Derna—to collect supporters of Ahmad—is marked by violence, death, and desperation, not to mention the presence of a diabolically sinister spirit (a djinn). As the march progresses, McCandless (Sour Lake, 2017, etc.) portrays Ladendorf as an increasingly enigmatic, malevolent character in this haunting, multilayered novel that explores the futility of war, good versus evil, and the dispiriting transformation of a man from youthful optimist to disillusioned soul. Told partly through present-tense, third-person narration and partly through Sweet’s lengthy, intermittent diary entries, this dark story with heavy supernatural overtones vividly depicts the heat, aridness, and mystery of the unending expanse of sand and emptiness that tortures body and mind. Here is Sweet describing the desert: “Great systems of Dunes have developed. They are restless creatures. They writhe and rear in the wind, constantly repositioning themselves, like sleepers troubled by Nightmares.”
Not for the squeamish, but skillful, often elegant prose compensates for a disturbing tale about an American mission in Africa.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-692-41572-6
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Ninth Planet
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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