A bare-bones, gritty, and entertaining first novel about street kids in 1955 Singapore. Ming's street-wise, primitive prose, written in a kind of clipped English, is initially jarring—``More talking turn into actions. The first successful job inspire others, some get caught. They learn, learn to exchange informations, about trust, about keeping their mouth shut, dress well to surprise victims as they change tactics.'' But a reader is soon swept up by the fast-paced story that's centered on Kwang, a 14-year-old who raises fighting spiders to compete with the spiders of his rivals. Highly organized and ritualized, these spider fights are the source of considerable neighborhood pride, and there's considerable betting done over their outcome. Like most other ``spider boys,'' Kwang is poor and looking for greater street action. And as with most Darwinian subcultures, the world of the Singapore street-urchins is dominated by the need to save face or to ``give face'' (show respect)—an intricate and subtle system that Ming skillfully renders. Meanwhile, as Kwang's respect spreads, he attracts the attention of Yeow, the king of the young racketeers and someone who dreams of reincarnating an old Chinese secret society—one that was wiped out under Japanese occupation and is now kept under wraps by the strict British rule. With Kwang's help, Yeow could make the society a reality again, but things are quickly complicated when Yeow is smitten by Kim, Kwang's childhood sweetheart. Although Ming's is a familiar tale of coming of age within a criminal organization, his unique setting and raw, quick pace keep the tale compelling, even when the voice-driven story seems to move too fast, especially toward the end when the action-packed scenes might have played themselves out a bit more. Still, an interesting voice on an age-old theme.
Pub Date: June 1, 1995
ISBN: 0-688-12858-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Morrow/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 1995
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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