A familiar plot refreshingly enhanced by its setting during the Revolutionary War, which is depicted realistically and with...
A love story set in Philadelphia during the American Revolution explores an unlikely pairing between an aristocratic woman with loyalist attachments and an unrefined rebel agitator.
In 1776, Philadelphia is a tinderbox of contentious political division—the city is torn between those who reaffirm their loyalty to the British crown and those who angrily demand political independence from it. And besides the tension created by the gathering clouds of war, the city is terrorized by a bandit known as Jack Flash who only targets wealthy loyalists and who is seen by the poor as a “hero.” One night, Jack Flash purloins a diamond- and sapphire-studded necklace from Alexandra Pennington, a recently widowed loyalist of exquisite elegance and beauty, a bold move that puts pressure on an otherwise feckless Sheriff Owen DeWalt to bring the culprit to justice. Meanwhile, Alexandra makes the acquaintance of Dalton Jameson, an “uneducated and humbly born” horse breeder who nevertheless impresses her with his “sincerity” and “gallantry.” Dalton is also an enthusiastic advocate of independence, and so despite their obvious admiration for each other, a remarkably implausible romantic coupling ensues, though Jeannette (A Devil of a Time, 2014, etc.) skillfully renders the possibility believable. But Charles Villard, a sophisticated descendant of British nobility, has eager designs on Alexandra as well and loathes the closeness that forms between her and Dalton so much that he’s willing to ruin his reputation: “ ‘Listen, you side-slip of a whoremonger. I’ve never liked you, and I especially dislike having you near things that belong to me. I’ll say this but once,’ he hissed. ‘Leave what’s mine alone, or you’ll have hell to pay.’ ” Jeannette not only manages to make the affections between Alexandra and Dalton credible—that in itself is no mean authorial feat—but also develops both characters with great depth and sensitivity. While an ocean of difference divides their lives, they do share something important: painful personal histories of adversity. Dalton was compelled to leave England after a romance went wrong, and Alexandra was forced into a marriage of convenience after her father left the family in financial ruin. The plot itself is fairly formulaic—an uncommon love swims against the currents of convention. But the backdrop of the Revolutionary War adds a fresh twist; the author’s portrayal of the political contentions that cleave Philadelphia is historically rigorous and dramatically gripping. Unfortunately, the tale as a whole unfolds at a glacial pace—it’s simply not necessary that this novel is nearly 500 pages. In addition, readers will confidently guess Jack Flash’s identity from the work’s very beginning. Still, while Jeannette’s prose doesn’t reach any poetical heights, she does achieve a linguistic authenticity for the period that helpfully contributes to a full immersion in the engaging story.
A familiar plot refreshingly enhanced by its setting during the Revolutionary War, which is depicted realistically and with great intelligence.Pub Date: July 24, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-08-277653-3
Page Count: 561
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Sept. 10, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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