A breezy read that centers on wish fulfillment.
A woman gets a chance to start over in this romantic novel.
On her 50th birthday, Missouri Rothman has a horrible day that culminates with Doyle’s, her husband of 32 years, leaving her for a younger woman. Doyle is a high-ranking professor at the University of Georgia, while Missouri, who does not have a degree, is an administrative associate. Their older son, Michael, only makes Missouri feel worse by asking what she did to drive Doyle away. But the couple’s younger son, Cody, is soon by her side to offer comfort and cook for her. The terms of the divorce give Missouri a chance to go back to school, and with help from her friend Amelia and her former high school art teacher, Thelma Coley, she gets into art school. Despite the awkwardness of being an older student, Missouri is quickly recognized for her talent and given a chance to study in Florence. Doyle, who has started to regret his decision, is resistant to this idea and gets his sons to object as well. She decides to go anyway. In Italy, she is intrigued to discover that one of her new professors is a handsome American. He turns out to be quite interested in her, but her family finds ways to meddle in their budding relationship. It is very easy for readers to root for Missouri, and her post-divorce adventures are often satisfying. But there are some missed opportunities in the construction of the narrative. Readers don’t learn much about the basis of Missouri’s love for Doyle other than that he was attractive and that they were together a long time. This makes it difficult to relate to the feelings she has about their divorce. In addition, the events in Pritchett’s (Like Peaches and Pickles, 2017) tale are somewhat predictable, and things can come a little too easily to Missouri. Readers never get to see her truly struggle with school. But while the writing and story transitions can be abrupt, the text shines brightest in the details of Missouri’s artistry and the landscapes of Italy.
A breezy read that centers on wish fulfillment.Pub Date: Dec. 15, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-61296-797-4
Page Count: 138
Publisher: Black Rose Writing
Review Posted Online: Jan. 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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