Lee’s novel reads like a strong case study of societal evils but misses coming to life as fiction.
The life of a young London lawyer falls apart when she becomes the victim of acquaintance rape.
This debut novel’s tone of angry earnestness is set by Jade, its narrator, whose name is the Anglicized version of her actual name, Ceyda. The child of immigrants, a Korean mother and a Turkish father, Jade is both an obedient, loving daughter and a careerist happy to assimilate into the British upper classes. She relishes the security she’s found in her relationship with her posh British boyfriend, Kit Campbell, and in her increasingly responsible position at a prestigious law firm. Then one night at a work party, Jade is plied with liquor by a senior partner only to wake up the next morning in her bed, naked and hungover, her pubic area sore. Although deeply unsettled, she is unable (or unwilling) to remember what happened until increasing physical pain and flashes of terrifying memory force her to face the knowledge that she was raped. Suddenly, all the security she’s assumed proves ephemeral. The career she’s worked so hard at becomes uncertain. Her relationship with her parents suffers, and Jade recognizes that Kit is an entitled twit. Through Jade’s trauma, novelist Lee portrays the double whammy faced by women of color, who not only suffer the misogyny and abuse of powerful predatory men, but also endure the long-term effects of racism, classism, and anti-immigrant prejudice. While Lee drives home her points successfully and Jade’s reactions are complicated, other characters and their interactions too often seem intended as talking points. Jade’s pragmatic, don’t-rock-the-boat friend is balanced by her impassioned, wants-to-rock-the-boat friend, while no male characters except Jade’s saintly father are trustworthy, and almost all are sexual predators.
Lee’s novel reads like a strong case study of societal evils but misses coming to life as fiction.Pub Date: March 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781668010990
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Jan. 27, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2024
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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