No, this isn't another Anatomy of a Murder: the psychology and law are a bit too undigested here, the central mystery is a little too easy to guess, and much of the stagy, folksy dialogue is awfully dated. But Traver remains a master of low-key courtroom drama, and most of this unpretentious murder-trial novel is genially readable. The narrator is trout-fishing Michigan lawyer Frederick Ludlow, who's been hired to defend young Randall Kirk—accused of murdering (by drowning) lovely Mrs. Constance Spurrier, with whom he was having a longtime affair. The problem, however, is that sullen Randy claims to have no memory of the time surrounding the murder! Furthermore, he seems to forget even more while in jail. So Ludlow, with help from retired Dr. Hugh Salter, wants to get court permission to use hypnotism to recall Randy's memory: there's a pre-trial hearing on the subject, a mini-history of hypnotism, and a Ludlow victory. But Randy seems oddly resistant to hypnosis—and Dr. Hugh gently persists while the trial begins, with heaps of evidence against the defendant. Meanwhile, the issue focus moves to the question of "impaired consciousness" as a defense to a crime (was Randy sleepwalking or something when—if—he did it?); and though this isn't quite as interesting as the "irresistible impulse" question in Anatomy of a Murder, Traver pursues the legal precedents at length. And finally, the doc's hypnosis having succeeded at last, Randy remembers all and takes the stand, detailing how he was in fact programmed into killing his beloved Constance—by the most likely suspect. This windup twist is far from new to mystery fiction (it goes at least as far back as Wilkie Collins), but Traver documents it more seriously and authentically than most. And for those who don't mind the creakiness here—likable Ludlow's wheezy humor, the chunks of technical exposition, or some truly unreal conversational outbursts from 28-year-old Randy ("How can mere clumsy words ever tell the state of enchantment, of suspended ecstasy and bliss, that came over me when we two were together")—this is a nice old-fashioned read, with special appeal to hypnotism buffs and armchair lawyers.
Pub Date: Oct. 20, 1981
ISBN: 0312600062
Page Count: 298
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 1981
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
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
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