An intriguing, if uneven, novel of becoming a woman in the modern American West.
Janssen presents a coming-of-age tale based on true events, set in the early 20th-century American Southwest.
Josie Belle Gore isn’t the oldest but she’s clearly the boldest child in her family. At the age of 6, for example, she uses a rope to retrieve the corpse of a jackrabbit that’s spoiling their well water. She takes in stride the family’s many moves—from New Mexico to Arizona, Texas, “Old Mexico,” and back to Arizona. When her mother dies, she’s left, at 14, to care for four younger siblings, including an infant. When her father becomes determined to marry her off, however, she runs away, first seeking shelter with an older sister but then striking out on her own, eventually finding a career with Western Union. Once she’s settled in California, though, she realizes it’s time to reunite with her family. Janssen weaves together aspects of her grandmother’s life with historical events; as such, Josie experiences boom-and-bust mining towns, Halley’s Comet, revolution in Mexico, homesteading in the desert, World War I, the influenza epidemic of 1918, and Prohibition in the ’20s. The modernizing West has horses and cowboys but also cars and flappers. Janssen weaves into the narrative stories about water—an important resource of the arid region, which explains the book’s title. However, her repeated metaphor that Josie’s life is like a river (“Life, like a river, can take some sharp twists and turns”) does not quite work, as our hero definitely and repeatedly takes initiative, rather than just flowing with the tide. Janssen writes in Josie’s voice, which allows readers to get to know her as a brave, complicated woman, and witnessing her growth as a confident person is an engaging experience. Other characters, however, are rather flat and their motivations vague. Also, some plot points seem unlikely, as when Josie, who lacks fashion sense, easily gets a job working the counter of a fancy hotel. Overall, though, Janssen creates a believable West that holds both opportunities and obstacles for her protagonist.
An intriguing, if uneven, novel of becoming a woman in the modern American West.Pub Date: Nov. 7, 2023
ISBN: 9781647425838
Page Count: 440
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: July 14, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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