A well-told, entertaining story of dogs overcoming all odds.
A dog’s-eye view of a long-shot project to save a dog shelter.
Smith’s novel starts off with all the high tension of a professional dog meet. It’s the Eastminster International Dog Show, and the happenings are narrated by Elvis, an Airedale terrier (“the gentlemen dog of the terrier group”) and returning champion. He desperately wants to win this dog show because his Man needs the prize money in order to renovate and salvage the dog shelter where all of Elvis’ canine pals, especially one named Freddy, worship Elvis. They’re counting on him for their literal survival. The Airedale knows the pressure is on, but he’s confident of his chances—until his archnemesis (“she’s white, though her heart is black as onyx”), a standard French poodle named Chaussay, seems somehow to curse the chances of the other contestants in the show, arranging for each dog in turn to fail in their showing, leaving her and her snooty handler, Pierre, in possession of the prize—and sending Elvis home in the most bitter of defeats, certain that Chaussay’s treachery and his defeat have sealed the doom of his friends. There follows a long and fast-paced adventure full of plot twists in which not only do the shelter residents strive to right the wrongs of Chaussay’s schemes, but, surprisingly, they also strive to shine the spotlight on humble Freddy (“I always thought that was for ‘special dogs’ and that did not include me,” he thinks at one point, “I neverthought of myself as special”). Smith’s novel joins the ranks of other dog-narrated stories like Richard Adams’ The Plague Dogs(1977) and Donald McCaig’s Nop’s Trials(1984) in that he dispenses completely with sentimentality or predictability in order to tell a hero’s journey story in which the hero isn’t quite human. He manages humor and suspense with equal skill.
A well-told, entertaining story of dogs overcoming all odds.Pub Date: Sept. 13, 2021
ISBN: 979-8-54-265678-6
Page Count: 283
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.
A young Navarrian woman faces even greater challenges in her second year at dragon-riding school.
Violet Sorrengail did all the normal things one would do as a first-year student at Basgiath War College: made new friends, fell in love, and survived multiple assassination attempts. She was also the first rider to ever bond with two dragons: Tairn, a powerful black dragon with a distinguished battle history, and Andarna, a baby dragon too young to carry a rider. At the end of Fourth Wing (2023), Violet and her lover, Xaden Riorson, discovered that Navarre is under attack from wyvern, evil two-legged dragons, and venin, soulless monsters that harvest energy from the ground. Navarrians had always been told that these were monsters of legend and myth, not real creatures dangerously close to breaking through Navarre’s wards and attacking civilian populations. In this overly long sequel, Violet, Xaden, and their dragons are determined to find a way to protect Navarre, despite the fact that the army and government hid the truth about these creatures. Due to the machinations of several traitorous instructors at Basgiath, Xaden and Violet are separated for most of the book—he’s stationed at a distant outpost, leaving her to handle the treacherous, cutthroat world of the war college on her own. Violet is repeatedly threatened by her new vice commandant, a brutal man who wants to silence her. Although Violet and her dragons continue to model extreme bravery, the novel feels repetitive and more than a little sloppy, leaving obvious questions about the world unanswered. The book is full of action and just as full of plot holes, including scenes that are illogical or disconnected from the main narrative. Secondary characters are ignored until a scene requires them to assist Violet or to be killed in the endless violence that plagues their school.
Unrelenting, and not in a good way.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781649374172
Page Count: 640
Publisher: Red Tower
Review Posted Online: Jan. 20, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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