In this novel, a Jewish couple makes its way from Vienna to the silent movie theaters and opera houses of New York City and Rochester, New York.
Hugo Huber, the popular conductor of a silent movie house in New York City, is blessed with a wonderful family. The narrative shifts to his back story: Before he died, Hugo’s grandfather, cantor at a temple in Vienna, had financed his orphaned grandson’s violin training. With the continuing help of an aunt and uncle, Hugo eventually attended the Vienna Conservatory, where he met Liesl, daughter of the principal violinist of the Vienna Philharmonic. Soon after their marriage, they immigrated to America. Debonair Hugo first served as maestro of a New York City hotel orchestra, then conductor at the movie house. Liesl got involved in costume design at the Metropolitan Opera, encountering Enrico Caruso and others. Then, one of their two children fell ill, fueling the family’s desire for a more tranquil life. Hugo took a job as conductor for the movie house within George Eastman’s cultural complex in Rochester, New York. Unfortunately, other Eastman musicians were malcontents, and there was rampant anti-Semitism, causing the Hubers to further downplay their Jewish heritage. The novel concludes with the Klu Klux Klan planning a demonstration at the Hubers’ home, although the family survives this experience as well as the advent of talkies. In her afterword, White acknowledges that the Hubers are based on the parents of her North Carolina piano teacher, whose piano lessons provided “my first tantalizing taste of Europe.” She effectively mines the riches to be found in this couple’s story, with her novel offering colorful glimpses into the worlds of classical music and opera, Prohibition-era America, and the timing and scoring of music for silent films. Overall, the narrative is engaging, although it occasionally bogs down with nonchronological asides and ends rather abruptly. At its best, however, White’s novel is reminiscent of Ragtime in its fictional depiction of an emerging cultural change.
An entertaining, ambitious historical saga infused with a love of music and inspired by fascinating real-life figures.
Pub Date: May 2, 2014
ISBN: 978-1496101150
Page Count: 294
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2014
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2014
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
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
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.
Sisters work together to solve a child-abandonment case.
Ellie and Julia Cates have never been close. Julia is shy and brainy; Ellie gets by on charm and looks. Their differences must be tossed aside when a traumatized young girl wanders in from the forest into their hometown in Washington. The sisters’ professional skills are put to the test. Julia is a world-renowned child psychologist who has lost her edge. She is reeling from a case that went publicly sour. Though she was cleared of all wrongdoing, Julia’s name was tarnished, forcing her to shutter her Beverly Hills practice. Ellie Barton is the local police chief in Rain Valley, who’s never faced a tougher case. This is her chance to prove she is more than just a fading homecoming queen, but a scarcity of clues and a reluctant victim make locating the girl’s parents nearly impossible. Ellie places an SOS call to her sister; she needs an expert to rehabilitate this wild-child who has been living outside of civilization for years. Confronted with her professional demons, Julia once again has the opportunity to display her talents and salvage her reputation. Hannah (The Things We Do for Love, 2004, etc.) is at her best when writing from the girl’s perspective. The feral wolf-child keeps the reader interested long after the other, transparent characters have grown tiresome. Hannah’s torturously over-written romance passages are stale, but there are surprises in store as the sisters set about unearthing Alice’s past and creating a home for her.
Wacky plot keeps the pages turning and enduring schmaltzy romantic sequences.Pub Date: March 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-345-46752-3
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2005
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