An original work of high distinction indeed: as fine a historical novel as any within recent memory, and far and away...
A full-dress fictionalization of the historic siege remembered as "the Texas holy of holies," from the veteran Texas Monthly contributor and novelist (Jacob's Well, 1984, etc.).
Harrigan's obviously fully researched reconstruction of the events of 1836, when a band of "Texians" determined to free "their" territory from Mexican control succumbed after a 13-day ordeal to the much larger Mexican Army, skillfully mingles together well-known historical figures with vividly realized fictional characters. Prominent among the latter are Terrell Mott, a 91-year-old survivor honored at ceremonies marking the siege's 75th anniversary in 1911, in the novel's moving prologue and epilogue; Terrell's mother, widowed Mary Mott, who courageously enters the very epicenter of the struggle, to be reconciled, and, if necessary, die with her loved ones; and Edmund McGowan, an itinerant botanist (hoping to complete his authoritative Flora Texana) for whom the Texas war of liberation becomes a transformative challenge to his lifelong suppression of his emotions and belief "in the governing majesty of the mind." Hot-blooded William Travis, infamous "knife-fighter" Jim Bowie, Congressman David Crockett from Tennessee, and their supposed confederate Sam Houston (whose troops arrive too late to avert the slaughter) are all memorably delineated, as are Mexico's "Presidente" General Santa Anna and two of his officers (both fictional) who grow to both maturity and disillusionment during the long campaign. Harrigan builds slowly and surely toward the story’s inevitable, impressive climax, examining in thrilling detail his several protagonists' quests for both freedom and fulfillment, foreshadowing deftly (for example, in a startling description of a tame parrot being swept up into the sky by a marauding hawk), and making us care deeply about the buttoned-up, self-despising Edmund and the heroic, very human woman who he knows in his heart is part of him.
An original work of high distinction indeed: as fine a historical novel as any within recent memory, and far and away Harrigan's best book yet. (First printing of 100,000; Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection/Quality Paperback Book Club selection)Pub Date: March 6, 2000
ISBN: 0-679-44717-2
Page Count: 592
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2000
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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