by Janet L. Furst ‧ RELEASE DATE: Dec. 14, 2017
Sensual, spiritually intuitive writing.
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A free-spirited middle-aged woman leaves her husband and family to pursue her dreams in this second novel by Furst.
Furst’s 2016 debut novel, Everyday Truth of a Rainbow Woman, recounts the story of Grace Heronheart, a school psychologist from rural West Virginia who quits her job to become a writer. This follow-up rejoins Grace on her journey. The aspiring writer has formed a strong bond with an enigmatic “cabin-dweller” named Shaun, who lives alone by a river. Grace makes day trips to the river and talks with Shaun about “books, reading, writing, or his life in the cabin” while her son, Justin, swims in the river. It’s not long before passions flare between Grace and Shaun, and they become locked in a deeply sensual relationship. Grace leaves her unhappy marriage to live in the cabin, much to the chagrin of her son, who refuses contact with her. So continues Grace’s spiritual and literary adventure as she plunges deeper into a bohemian lifestyle, living simply and spending nights by the campfire listening to music, wrapped in Shaun’s arms or embarking on road trips. As with the first book, the voice used here is first-person singular, and Furst has the uncanny knack of fooling readers into thinking that this is a memoir. Her writing has a natural confessional style that seems to speak directly from the heart: “The little voice inside me that had drawn me to him was not one of logic. I had given up on the world of logic several years earlier. I listened to the voice without knowing, without attachment.” Readers skeptical of New-Age spirituality may balk at some of the language: “Oya is the goddess of change and wind and weather. We spun in circles nine times and asked for gentle changes in our lives.” Yet those who enjoyed being introduced to Grace and learning about her past lives in this book’s prequel will delight in reuniting with her as she embarks on a new and exciting journey.
Sensual, spiritually intuitive writing.Pub Date: Dec. 14, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5043-7336-4
Page Count: 172
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Hanya Yanagihara ‧ RELEASE DATE: March 10, 2015
The phrase “tour de force” could have been invented for this audacious novel.
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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
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by Kristin Hannah ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2004
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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