An outstanding debut that succeeds in gathering domestic drama, philosophical fiction, and a touch of Southern Gothic style...
Two generations of Kentucky women navigate familial obligation and legacy in Hanratty’s debut novel in stories.
In 1936, Salinda “Sal” Skinner, scarred by the public shame of her drunk father and a “trash” family name, vows to leave Gray Hampton, Kentucky’s small-town prejudice far behind. And so begins a generational tale of women searching to find meaning in their roles as daughters, wives, and mothers. Sal sees her salvation in local rich boy Ivan Barkley, but their “oil and water” marriage ends with an accident at work, which leaves Sal a widow and forces a return to her despised hometown. Sal’s daughters go on to struggle with their own identities. After an interlude with hints of Southern Gothic, youngest Heddy becomes the voice of the second half of the book, narrating her formative years with a narcoleptic handyman stepfather, through marriage and motherhood, until a freak tragedy threatens to destroy her family. A grief-stricken Heddy secludes herself in a woodland cabin, where she attempts to come to terms with personal wounds both old and new and find a kind of philosophical peace among the “community of trees.” Such themes suggest a sprawling tome, but although the novel covers decades of family life, Hanratty displays the short story writer’s keen eye for concision and elision, allowing years to pass in a blink without leaving readers adrift. A fine sense of place helps, as do the well-observed details of family life, with its in-jokes and secret language. The characters feel lived-in and authentic, although Heddy’s voice is marred later on by an unnecessary switch in point of view (from close third- to first-person), and Penny’s voice is conspicuously absent from the narrative, which can sometimes give readers the feeling that the stories are merely an excerpt of a much larger work. But these are minor flaws in an otherwise assured and beautifully crafted novel that packs more into one short book than most writers do in an entire series.
An outstanding debut that succeeds in gathering domestic drama, philosophical fiction, and a touch of Southern Gothic style into one family saga.Pub Date: May 1, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-9960120-1-0
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Fleur-de-Lis Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 19, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose...
Sparks (The Longest Ride, 2013, etc.) serves up another heaping helping of sentimental Southern bodice-rippage.
Gone are the blondes of yore, but otherwise the Sparks-ian formula is the same: a decent fellow from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches falls in love with a decent girl from a good family who’s gone through some rough patches—and is still suffering the consequences. The guy is innately intelligent but too quick to throw a punch, the girl beautiful and scary smart. If you hold a fatalistic worldview, then you’ll know that a love between them can end only in tears. If you hold a Sparks-ian one, then true love will prevail, though not without a fight. Voilà: plug in the character names, and off the story goes. In this case, Colin Hancock is the misunderstood lad who’s decided to reform his hard-knuckle ways but just can’t keep himself from connecting fist to face from time to time. Maria Sanchez is the dedicated lawyer in harm’s way—and not just because her boss is a masher. Simple enough. All Colin has to do is punch the partner’s lights out: “The sexual harassment was bad enough, but Ken was a bully as well, and Colin knew from his own experience that people like that didn’t stop abusing their power unless someone made them. Or put the fear of God into them.” No? No, because bound up in Maria’s story, wrinkled with the doings of an equally comely sister, there’s a stalker and a closet full of skeletons. Add Colin’s back story, and there’s a perfect couple in need of constant therapy, as well as a menacing cop. Get Colin and Maria to smooching, and the plot thickens as the storylines entangle. Forget about love—can they survive the evil that awaits them out in the kudzu-choked woods?
More of the same: Sparks has his recipe, and not a bit of it is missing here. It’s the literary equivalent of high fructose corn syrup, stickily sweet but irresistible.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4555-2061-9
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 30, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
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