The relation of man to God and the meaning of life are merely the starting points for this extraordinarily ambitious novel of ideas by the celebrated Dutch author of such dense and rewarding fictions as The Assault (1985) and Last Call (1990). The story begins in heaven, with a conversation between two angels, one of whom has been assigned to contrive the appropriate ancestry and eventual birth of a human intelligence gifted enough to locate the (long hidden) stone tablets containing the Ten Commandments given to the biblical Moses, and then return them to heaven. Thus will God's covenant with man be invalidated (the order is given because the Deity is offended by man's loss of faith as a consequence of his commitment to scientific investigation now, culminating in DNA research that may presage humanity's discovery of the secret of creation). Subsequently, interpolated ``intermezzos'' in which the heavenly host comment on the progress of their scheme are juxtaposed against the novel's main narrative, which portrays the unlikely friendship between astronomer Max Delius and the linguist (and political activist) Onno Quist; their rivalry for the love of the beautiful cellist Ada Brons; the accident that precedes the delivery of Ada's baby, ostensibly the progeny of her husband Onno—but, just possibly, Max's; and the development of that child, Quinten, a precocious and unnaturally beautiful youth who is drawn to Venice, then Rome, for the surprising resolution of the quest for which he has been celestially destined. This masterly syntheses of idea and story- -reminiscent of similarly gargantuan novels by GÅnter Grass and Michel Tournier—makes complex concepts from mathematics, architecture, physics, astronomy, and theology perfectly comprehensible and dramatic, all the while immersing readers in a fast-paced narrative peopled with several vivid and appealing characters. Mulisch's bid for a masterpiece works commandingly, on every level. Could be one of the best novels of the last 20 years.
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 1996
ISBN: 0-670-85668-1
Page Count: 752
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 1996
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
PROFILES
PERSPECTIVES
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
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