An enjoyable family tale with a tough and memorable hero.
This expansive and elegiac novel focuses on the life of a woman who searches for true love.
Bertelina Solis is a spirited and very beautiful girl, brave and committed enough to have taken a dangerously clandestine part in the Costa Rican revolution of 1948. Always hunting for the true love that her mother never found, Bertelina marries—after a crazy courtship—Oscar, the father of her children, who proves to be undependable and unfaithful. They divorce, and he never seems to have enough money for child support. Further adventures find her as an actor and model, but an attempted rape cheats her of a career in Mexican telenovelas. She and her children eventually move to Los Angeles, where she starts over yet again, as a hotel maid and grocery cashier. (This is where Bertelina becomes Bertha.) Somehow things come together over time, and she realizes that family is all-important. Alvarado has hit on a striking and poignant gambit. When readers first meet the older Bertha, her daughter, Maria, is reading to her from a manuscript. Bertha, who has dementia, is really engaged with it—it’s like a telenovela. What will happen to the hero? Readers will quickly realize that this manuscript is a biography of Bertha that Maria has lovingly written, something that the protagonist no longer has the capacity to recognize. What is emphasized is that Bertha is a classic survivor. She may not find that perfect love, but she is unstoppable. The writing is sometimes awkward (“When he lifted the cigarette onto his lips, the smoke became spiral as it rose”; “stalks of trees” instead of trunks of trees). But this family story is engrossing: Bertha’s kids become successful to varying degrees (middle class at last—the American dream) and can arrange care for her. This is the portrait of a life well lived, even if it is not the journey that Bertha would have planned, which is a reminder and a consolation for readers.
An enjoyable family tale with a tough and memorable hero.Pub Date: Aug. 15, 2022
ISBN: 9781088054192
Page Count: 452
Publisher: Determined2 Publishing
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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