A relatable female protagonist and a meaningful message about the relationship between hurt and anger.
A grade schooler’s determination to tame a fearful, aggressive pup with love brings both trouble and unexpected change in this children’s novel.
Everything has gone wrong for Samantha “Sammy” Connor since the death of her beloved grandfather Papa Jack. She and her single mom had to move after he died; money is short; and Sammy is messing up at her elementary school. The girl also feels distanced from her mom, an artist who spends a lot of time in her ceramics studio. When Sammy sees chained-up pup Jack being cruelly mistreated by school bully Brian Haydon’s teenage brothers, she persuades her classmate to sell Jack to her, earning the money by reading to an elderly woman at the local seniors’ home. Sammy soon wonders, though, if kindness will be enough to change the barking, lunging, destructive “devil dog” into a loving pet. She comes to see a parallel in Brian’s anger when she witnesses him being denigrated and physically abused by his bad news brothers—and comes up with a plan to rescue him too. But “why was it that when she tried so hard, things kept going wrong?” Jack chews things up, won’t listen, and nips at people. Brian comes to school with bruises and keeps shoving kids and mouthing off to teachers. Then a shockingly violent incident occurs, bringing eventful consequences for Jack, renewed closeness between Sammy and her mom, and the girl’s sad realization that she can’t be Brian’s rescuer. As her mom says, “people have to fix themselves.” In this novel, Brown (Not Yet Summer, 2017, etc.), a prolific author of books for ages 9 and up, offers an affecting portrait of a young girl struggling to recover a sense of stability after a profound loss. Sammy’s ups and downs with her mom, who is caring but self-absorbed with professional and money concerns, ring true. And principal Jeanne Martinez and counselor Mrs. Sovich are sympathetic adults. The story also presents a powerful lesson about the effects of bullying. The ethnicity and race of the characters are not stated, although the book cover shows a young white girl and there is a mention of Sammy’s best friend’s Japanese grandparents.
A relatable female protagonist and a meaningful message about the relationship between hurt and anger.Pub Date: Sept. 30, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-5447-9935-3
Page Count: 286
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Dec. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.
Passion, friendship, heartbreak, and forgiveness ring true in Lovering's debut, the tale of a young woman's obsession with a man who's "good at being charming."
Long Island native Lucy Albright, starts her freshman year at Baird College in Southern California, intending to study English and journalism and become a travel writer. Stephen DeMarco, an upperclassman, is a political science major who plans to become a lawyer. Soon after they meet, Lucy tells Stephen an intensely personal story about the Unforgivable Thing, a betrayal that turned Lucy against her mother. Stephen pretends to listen to Lucy's painful disclosure, but all his thoughts are about her exposed black bra strap and her nipples pressing against her thin cotton T-shirt. It doesn't take Lucy long to realize Stephen's a "manipulative jerk" and she is "beyond pathetic" in her desire for him, but their lives are now intertwined. Their story takes seven years to unfold, but it's a fast-paced ride through hookups, breakups, and infidelities fueled by alcohol and cocaine and with oodles of sizzling sexual tension. "Lucy was an itch, a song stuck in your head or a movie you need to rewatch or a food you suddenly crave," Stephen says in one of his point-of-view chapters, which alternate with Lucy's. The ending is perfect, as Lucy figures out the dark secret Stephen has kept hidden and learns the difference between lustful addiction and mature love.
There are unforgettable beauties in this very sexy story.Pub Date: June 12, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-5011-6964-9
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: March 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2018
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
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