Paradise comes at a price in this taut SF thriller by newcomer Layne. High school junior Jack Barrett always knew that his father was a perfectionist, but it’s been even worse since Dad started working for Eden Corporation. Now his mother drinks, his grandmother frets, and his rebellious younger brother Troy lives to annoy their father. When Dad insists on moving to the Eden-owned village of Paradise, where the homes are luxurious, the landscaping impeccable, and all the inhabitants serious, hard-working, and content, Jack soon suspects that there is something very wrong indeed. Why isn’t Mom there to greet them? Where does Troy vanish in the middle of the night? And what mysterious power does Mr. Eden, the company’s owner, hold over their father? Jack’s a likable teenager, with an appealing self-deprecating tone, but the other characters are paper-thin. Cocky, iconoclastic Troy is less charismatic than arrogant; Gram, while sassy and resourceful, can also be irritatingly omniscient; and Jori, Jack’s love interest, is simply too beautiful and spunky for belief. In fact, the entire plot is utterly preposterous—the secret of the village certainly won’t surprise anyone who has read any of the myriad variations on its dystopic theme—but the breathless pace and tidy resolution of dangling ends partially compensate for its implausibility. If Layne has not created the subtle commentary on human progress that he aims for, he certainly has crafted an entertaining, suspenseful thriller with a genuinely chilling villain. Good fun. (Fiction. 12-15)
Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-9712336-9-1
Page Count: 215
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2001
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point.
After Hitler appoints Bruno’s father commandant of Auschwitz, Bruno (nine) is unhappy with his new surroundings compared to the luxury of his home in Berlin.
The literal-minded Bruno, with amazingly little political and social awareness, never gains comprehension of the prisoners (all in “striped pajamas”) or the malignant nature of the death camp. He overcomes loneliness and isolation only when he discovers another boy, Shmuel, on the other side of the camp’s fence. For months, the two meet, becoming secret best friends even though they can never play together. Although Bruno’s family corrects him, he childishly calls the camp “Out-With” and the Fuhrer “Fury.” As a literary device, it could be said to be credibly rooted in Bruno’s consistent, guileless characterization, though it’s difficult to believe in reality. The tragic story’s point of view is unique: the corrosive effect of brutality on Nazi family life as seen through the eyes of a naïf. Some will believe that the fable form, in which the illogical may serve the objective of moral instruction, succeeds in Boyne’s narrative; others will believe it was the wrong choice.
Certain to provoke controversy and difficult to see as a book for children, who could easily miss the painful point. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: Sept. 12, 2006
ISBN: 0-385-75106-0
Page Count: 224
Publisher: David Fickling/Random
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a...
Han’s leisurely paced, somewhat somber narrative revisits several beach-house summers in flashback through the eyes of now 15-year-old Isabel, known to all as Belly.
Belly measures her growing self by these summers and by her lifelong relationship with the older boys, her brother and her mother’s best friend’s two sons. Belly’s dawning awareness of her sexuality and that of the boys is a strong theme, as is the sense of summer as a separate and reflective time and place: Readers get glimpses of kisses on the beach, her best friend’s flirtations during one summer’s visit, a first date. In the background the two mothers renew their friendship each year, and Lauren, Belly’s mother, provides support for her friend—if not, unfortunately, for the children—in Susannah’s losing battle with breast cancer. Besides the mostly off-stage issue of a parent’s severe illness there’s not much here to challenge most readers—driving, beer-drinking, divorce, a moment of surprise at the mothers smoking medicinal pot together.
The wish-fulfilling title and sun-washed, catalog-beautiful teens on the cover will be enticing for girls looking for a diversion. (Fiction. 12-14)Pub Date: May 5, 2009
ISBN: 978-1-4169-6823-8
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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