Compassion anchors a young theologian in this thoughtful tale.
A growing Twitter account provokes a papal inquiry in Parish’s novel.
Religion can engender feelings of anxiety about the constraints of church doctrine as followers mature into their understandings about life and the world. For Paolo Venticinque, an Italian seminarian working as a Jesuit high school teacher, those constraints don’t cause him to question his faith but to wonder how his faith can work beyond them. When Venticinque is sent to Jerusalem to interview men at a mental health institution, he is on a mission of “brand management,” as his superior, Bishop Giuseppe Malatesta, puts it. A Twitter account that has racked up 2.5 million followers and counting is being run by an unknown poster claiming to be the returned Jesus Christ. The men Paolo interviews have been “afflicted with a psychosis called The Jerusalem Syndrome,” so they’re all considered suspects who might be responsible for the account. While Malatesta deems the tweets a threat to the Catholic Church, Paolo questions the bishop’s assessment, because the posts are preaching compassion and unity. After speaking to the men and sharing his thoughts about his findings with his neighbor, Shirin, his mother, Leonella, and an inspector by the name of Viterbo, things don’t seem to add up. With a deft hand, Parish weaves into this religious thriller facts of historical relevance, sumptuous descriptions of regional foods (and the ritualistic attitudes that go along with them), and an admiring attentiveness in the depictions of his women characters. In the latter part of the book, however, the pacing falls into a less exciting rhythm as the narrative somewhat neatly wraps up loose ends rather than continuing to carry on the heightened sense of intrigue that significantly bolstered the earlier sections. Still, Parish has crafted a prescient and thoughtfully weighty story that reflects on religion’s effect on relationships and communities.
Compassion anchors a young theologian in this thoughtful tale.Pub Date: April 9, 2024
ISBN: 9798891321939
Page Count: 364
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
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
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