A folk tale–style novel set in medieval China, but readers may want more to hold on to.
In her novel, Gurian adopts a mythlike tone while incorporating historical events into the story of a young girl in 13th-century China under Mongol rule.
Little Ai and her mother, seamstress Sui San, join a troupe of actors when all Chinese are expelled from the Mongolian capital following an assassination. They travel across China, observing the friendships and rivalries of the actors, slowly becoming part of the extended family, until Sui San goes missing and is presumed dead. The troupe disbands when they reach their destination, and Little Ai is left with a neglectful aunt. The narrative has a folk tale–like quality, from its formal dialogue—“The heir to the throne has returned suddenly in order to render sacrifice to the gods. He demands your presence. Do not delay carrying out the command of the one who sends for you”—to its vivid depiction of a bygone world: “Peasants in straw sandals drove their donkeys which were hardly visible underneath tall baskets full of silk cocoons. Small-time merchants were screaming in various voices; wandering chefs were clattering their dishes; a fortuneteller was setting up his tent by a mat on which a doctor had laid out his medicines for skin and eye diseases.” Chapter titles (“How the Lamp Went Out Three Times,” “How Little Ai Met Her Big Brother”) complement the folk-tale feel as well. The plot is less satisfying, with many chapters presenting minor conflicts and adventures that have little impact on the ultimate resolution. Titular Little Ai is present for much of the action, but she remains in the background, displaying no evolution over the course of the narrative and offering little emotional connection to the reader. Take, for instance, her response to Sui San’s apparent death, several chapters later: “I haven’t seen Mother in her coffin, and therefore I don’t believe it. My daughterly duty is to fulfill Mother’s will, even if she isn’t alive.”
A folk tale–style novel set in medieval China, but readers may want more to hold on to.Pub Date: Jan. 12, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5174-1390-3
Page Count: 200
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: July 7, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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