by Mark A. Henry ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 20, 2020
A lively deluge of madcap humor, sometimes more silly than genuinely funny.
A clueless IT worker gets falsely arrested for domestic terrorism in this satirical comedy.
Chris Dawkins is a content developer for Sixdub, a successful tech company in Silicon Valley. His mundane job largely consists of scouring the internet for copyright-free video—once found, his company replaces the original audio with “random, computer-generated rap lyrics.” While doing this, he thoughtlessly likes a video recorded in a language he cannot understand that turns out to be terrorist propaganda disseminated by the Militant Islamic Liberation Front, an organization based in fictional Zazaristan, where “goatfighting is a sport of gentlemen.” Problematically for Chris, FBI Director Dick Barry is aggressively pushing for showy counterterrorism victories and tasks his agents Stanley Murphy and Francis Sullivan—the only two members of the Boomer Sooner task force, which searches cyberspace for evidence of terrorism—with producing one. Barry communicates his order in the kind of zany vaudevillian humor that permeates Henry’s book: “What concerns me the most are the enemies that we don’t know that we don’t know about. Right now, somewhere out there, someone may be sneaking up on America with a knife. I want you to find this person or persons and shoot them in the face.” The agents discover Chris’ tenuous and unwitting connection to MILF. A judge then orders his house arrest for conspiracy to commit a terrorist act. But Chris’ employer, Jasper Wiles, decides the only way for the IT worker to clear his name is to stealthily head to Zazaristan, the home of the man in charge of MILF, Wahiri Shwarma, known as Mohammad Mohammad.
The author astutely satirizes the absurd hypocrisy often involved in the prosecution of supposed terrorists. Shwarma has actually abandoned any real terrorist aspirations after discovering it’s far cheaper to take credit for random disasters in the Western world, an example of Henry at his comedic best. While in Zazaristan, Chris meets Fareek Wazaan, his IT equivalent working for MILF, who’s about as interested in terrorism as Chris is, a memorable juxtaposition. The entire novel is written as a farce in the spirit of Joseph Heller’s work—Henry even includes silly “Study Questions” at the book’s end: “What would you say is the smoking age in Zazaristan?” Unfortunately, he attempts, often with laborious effort, to squeeze a punchline into nearly every sentence, a comic relentlessness that finally becomes tediously exhausting. In addition, one can’t expect all those jokes to smoothly land, and often the author settles for unspectacular slapstick. For example, after drinking a tea laced with some kind of drug while in Zazaristan, Chris suspects he’s endowed with magical powers: “Hold on, that’s ridiculous. There’s no such thing as magic. Superpowers. Yes, of course. Superpowers. Let me see if I can hovertate. Is that a word? Hovertate? Hoverlate? Leverate? Leverate. That’s it. Leverate.”
A lively deluge of madcap humor, sometimes more silly than genuinely funny.Pub Date: Oct. 20, 2020
ISBN: 978-0-578-70682-5
Page Count: 461
Publisher: Operation Dodecahedron
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by Colleen Hoover ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 18, 2022
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
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New York Times Bestseller
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
by Jodi Picoult ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 2024
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.
Who was Shakespeare?
Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name, “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593497210
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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by Jodi Picoult
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by Jodi Picoult
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