Wittily imitating classic gothic masterpieces, Stanfill (Shadows and Light, 1984) takes a Brontâan heroine and puts her in a Tom Wolfe-ish New York setting—where ``identity is telegraphed by the names of corporations or one's position on the Forbes list.'' Narrated in the past tense typical of the genre, and in equally typical florid prose, the story concerns Elisabeth Rowan, who, like Jane Eyre, is alone in the world and must support herself. Her mother died when she was two, her father more recently, but—reflecting the changed times—Elisabeth is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal and has a wealthy married lover. Here, she also gets an unexpected request—to write the authorized biography of the late Joanna Eakins, a famous actress whom Elisabeth had met only once— that is the achievement of all she's wanted. She visits Wakefield Hall, the beautiful country home to which Joanna had devoted the last years of her life, after her acting career was ended by debilitating stage-fright. There, in the Berkshires, Joanna tried to re-create Thistleton, the grand country estate of her former English lover, Desmond Kerrith, complete with the maze that will play a significant role as Elisabeth unravels Joanna's mysterious life. Joanna's husband, rich and powerful David Cassel, and stepdaughter Rosalind, a successful bond-trader—both alarmed by the direction of Elisabeth's investigation—try to stop her, but our heroine is by now obsessed. Lover Jack is not keen either, but Larry, Joanna's architectural adviser, despite a reputation for arrogance, is encouraging. Treachery abounds, even at a Park Avenue dinner party, but Elisabeth, undeterred, travels to Paris, puzzles over enigmatic Shakespearean references in Joanna's letters, and finally, at Thistleton, will learn the stunning truth. A splendidly unabashed postmodern updating of the genre- -complete with the requisite foreshadowing, sinister characters, and extravagant settings. An intelligent great read.
Pub Date: May 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-679-41298-0
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Villard
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1993
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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