An emotionally charged and beautifully constructed novella from the acclaimed Spanish author of City of Marvels (1988) and The Truth About the Savolta Case (1992). Initially set in the 1950s in a small town in the province of Barcelona, it's the story of Sister Consuela, a young nun recently appointed Mother Superior of her convent, which operates a charity hospital and hopes to establish an old people's home. During her several visits to the mountaintop home of Don Augusto AixelÖ, a wealthy landowner who had opposed Republican rebels throughout the country's civil war and thereafter prospered, the Sister finds herself tolerating, even enjoying the rakish urbanity of the nobleman from whom she seeks financial help, and eventually, to her mingled joy and despair, falling in love with him. Attempting to atone for her lapses, Sister Consuela is forcibly brought into the presence of Don Augusto's enemies, and even finds herself joining in a gun battle (``I don't know whether God is putting me to the test, or making fun of me''). Thirty years later, all passions spent, she learns of an ironic conjunction, despite their long separation, of her lover's fate with her own. And, in a moving conclusion worthy of Garc°a M†rquez at his most inspired, we learn exactly what Sister Consuela's past has meant to her and how it has changed—and might have further changed—her life. Mendoza infuses this spare, haunting tale with telling characterizations, vivid descriptions of storms and floods (which foreshadow and parallel the nun's disturbed emotions), and suggestive symbolism (the hulking presences of threatening guard dogs; Sister Consuela's misguided entry into a meat larder where freshly killed game hangs). A brilliantly orchestrated demonstration of the ambiguities of moral action and the variety and depth of human personality—and, not incidentally, a suspenseful and absorbing story as well. A gem.
Pub Date: April 14, 1996
ISBN: 1-86046-044-5
Page Count: 128
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1996
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.
Passion, friendship, heartbreak, and forgiveness ring true in Lovering's debut, the tale of a young woman's obsession with a man who's "good at being charming."
Long Island native Lucy Albright, starts her freshman year at Baird College in Southern California, intending to study English and journalism and become a travel writer. Stephen DeMarco, an upperclassman, is a political science major who plans to become a lawyer. Soon after they meet, Lucy tells Stephen an intensely personal story about the Unforgivable Thing, a betrayal that turned Lucy against her mother. Stephen pretends to listen to Lucy's painful disclosure, but all his thoughts are about her exposed black bra strap and her nipples pressing against her thin cotton T-shirt. It doesn't take Lucy long to realize Stephen's a "manipulative jerk" and she is "beyond pathetic" in her desire for him, but their lives are now intertwined. Their story takes seven years to unfold, but it's a fast-paced ride through hookups, breakups, and infidelities fueled by alcohol and cocaine and with oodles of sizzling sexual tension. "Lucy was an itch, a song stuck in your head or a movie you need to rewatch or a food you suddenly crave," Stephen says in one of his point-of-view chapters, which alternate with Lucy's. The ending is perfect, as Lucy figures out the dark secret Stephen has kept hidden and learns the difference between lustful addiction and mature love.
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6964-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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
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