Still, it’s an amusing satire that, in its own way, manages to rebuke today’s political realities.
All hell breaks loose when a proposed highway bypass threatens a peaceful neighborhood and endangers a rare species of butterfly, prompting an unreconstructed ’60s radical to scrape together a bunch of misfits and take on the town’s establishment.
It’s easy to imagine that veteran author Nichols (Conjugal Bliss, 1994, etc.) patterned his protagonist and narrator, Charley McFarland, after a kind of politically correct Hunter S. Thompson. Page after page, Charley spices up this political farce with Thompsonian-like epithets (used to describe friend and foe alike) and fantasies that even the character admits may be a little over the top. The Butterfly Coalition that Charley assembles includes a 92-year-old radical Lydia Babcock, who had been involved in many of the last century’s left-wing fracases; a progressive if somewhat frustrated reporter, Susan Delgado; his dysfunctional son, Luther; and his extremely dysfunctional, alcoholic estranged wife (Luther’s stepmother), Kelly. (Another part of Charley’s plan is to use the coalition as a catalyst for reuniting his family.) Along with himself, these four, whom Charley repeatedly explains are not ecoterrorists or “monkey wrenchers,” take on the powers-that-be in aptly named Suicide City. As with any farce, you don’t need a scorecard to distinguish the bad guys from the good, especially with Charley narrating, but the Butterfly Coalition isn’t an average activist group either. Since just about every character here is either unlikably avaricious, obnoxious, or extreme, with Kelly by far the worst of the coalition, the broadness of the comedy—both the language and the action—is a bit unfortunate in that it distances and effectively numbs the reader. Indeed, so heavy is the farce laid on that when tragedy does strike the Butterfly Coalition it elicits confusion rather than sympathy.
Still, it’s an amusing satire that, in its own way, manages to rebuke today’s political realities.Pub Date: June 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-8118-3201-5
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Chronicle Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2001
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of...
Lifelong, conflicted friendship of two women is the premise of Hannah’s maudlin latest (Magic Hour, 2006, etc.), again set in Washington State.
Tallulah “Tully” Hart, father unknown, is the daughter of a hippie, Cloud, who makes only intermittent appearances in her life. Tully takes refuge with the family of her “best friend forever,” Kate Mularkey, who compares herself unfavorably with Tully, in regards to looks and charisma. In college, “TullyandKate” pledge the same sorority and major in communications. Tully has a life goal for them both: They will become network TV anchorwomen. Tully lands an internship at KCPO-TV in Seattle and finagles a producing job for Kate. Kate no longer wishes to follow Tully into broadcasting and is more drawn to fiction writing, but she hesitates to tell her overbearing friend. Meanwhile a love triangle blooms at KCPO: Hard-bitten, irresistibly handsome, former war correspondent Johnny is clearly smitten with Tully. Expecting rejection, Kate keeps her infatuation with Johnny secret. When Tully lands a reporting job with a Today-like show, her career shifts into hyperdrive. Johnny and Kate had started an affair once Tully moved to Manhattan, and when Kate gets pregnant with daughter Marah, they marry. Kate is content as a stay-at-home mom, but frets about being Johnny’s second choice and about her unrealized writing ambitions. Tully becomes Seattle’s answer to Oprah. She hires Johnny, which spells riches for him and Kate. But Kate’s buttons are fully depressed by pitched battles over slutwear and curfews with teenaged Marah, who idolizes her godmother Tully. In an improbable twist, Tully invites Kate and Marah to resolve their differences on her show, only to blindside Kate by accusing her, on live TV, of overprotecting Marah. The BFFs are sundered. Tully’s latest attempt to salvage Cloud fails: The incorrigible, now geriatric hippie absconds once more. Just as Kate develops a spine, she’s given some devastating news. Will the friends reconcile before it’s too late?
Dated sermonizing on career versus motherhood, and conflict driven by characters’ willed helplessness, sap this tale of poignancy.Pub Date: Feb. 1, 2008
ISBN: 978-0-312-36408-3
Page Count: 496
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2007
BOOK TO SCREEN
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