Xpress Reviews--The First Look at New Books
Aug 19, 2010Week ending August 20, 2010
Fiction | Nonfiction
Fiction
Abate, Carmine. The Homecoming Party. Europa, dist. by Penguin. 2010. c.192p. tr. from Italian by Antony Shugaar. ISBN 978-1-933372-83-9. pap. $15. F
In a contemporary Calabrian village, a Christmas Eve bonfire brings a father and son closer together as they share their experiences and memories. In alternating chapters, the unnamed father talks about his first love and having to leave his adored hometown to work in northern France as a laborer. His son, Marco, relates how much he missed his father during these long absences; his love for Spertina, his devoted dog; and the secret he faithfully kept for his older sister, Elisa. Her relationship with a wayfarer brings about the climax of this well-told story of the importance of family bonds. The result is a graceful, poignant story full of humanity and compassion without sentimentality.
Verdict This new novel by the multiple-award-winning Abate (Between Two Seas) is a coming-of-age tale, a love story, and an exploration of the economic hardships of southern Italy, which force many of its citizens to immigrate to other countries for employment.—Lisa Rohrbaugh, National Coll., Youngstown, OH
Archer, Jeffrey. And Thereby Hangs a Tale. St. Martin's. Sept. 2010. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-312-53953-5. $24.99. F
Archer's bibliography contains 18 novels, three plays, and, with this newest title, six short story collections. During his recent travels, Archer, inevitably aware that short stories have their root in oral storytelling, gathered these colorful anecdotes, then spun them into whimsical tales. His refined characterization, penchant for British history, and trademark inclusion of cunning twists typify these 15 tales, three of which he situates outside the British Isles. However, although readers have been drawn to his works for over 30 years, reviewers panned his most recent novel, Paths of Glory, for its excessive fictionalization of history. Likewise, critics of his previous stories anticipated a future Cheever or Fitzgerald; this collection may diminish their optimism. Here, awaiting the upcoming twist upon which hangs each tale also requires absorption of excessive plot developments. Archer is now in his 70s and has written for over 34 years; his noted style seems tedious and worn.
Verdict For appreciative short story readers as well as for comprehensive, contemporary short story collections.—Jerry P. Miller, Cambridge, MA
De Sa, Anthony. Barnacle Love. Algonquin. 2010. c.224p. ISBN 978-1-56512-926-9. pap. $13.95. F
Born in a fishing village in Portugal, Manuel always felt he was destined for greatness. Against his mother's wishes, he goes to sea on a mid-Atlantic cod fishing vessel. He spends time ashore in Canada and decides he wants to remain but after several adventures is forced to come home. As an adult, he returns to Canada and raises his family in Toronto but never fulfills his imagined promise. The early part of the book, relating Manuel's adventures at sea and on shore, has a mythical quality. So it's rather jarring when we later view the middle-aged Manuel as a disillusioned alcoholic through the eyes of his son Antonio. While compelling in its own way, the latter half of the book bears the familiar outline of the typical immigrant story: parents pressuring their children into high-status, lucrative careers and clashes between the parents' traditional way of living and their children's desire to assimilate into the dominant culture around them.
Verdict For those who enjoy immigrant stories.—Christine DeZelar-Tiedman, Univ of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Francis, Dick & Felix Francis. Crossfire. Putnam. Aug. 2010. c.352p. ISBN 978-0-399-15681-6. $26.95. M
Francis, a former steeplechase jockey and author of more than 40 best sellers before his death in February 2010, teamed up with his son Felix to coauthor three mysteries: Dead Heat, Silks, and Even Money. Their fourth and final collaboration does not disappoint. After losing a foot from an IED (improvised explosive device) in Afghanistan, Capt. Tom Forsyth is told he will no longer be able to serve in active combat. When he leaves the rehab hospital, he realizes he has nowhere to go except home to his race horse trainer Mom and stepfather, a home he happily left behind when he turned 17. Now Tom finds that his mother has been persuaded to spend all of her savings on a hedge fund that went south; in addition, she is being blackmailed for a large sum each month. Apprehending the blackmailers gives Forsyth a new reason to live.
Verdict Tom's a typical brave, witty, and charming Francis protagonist. Here's hoping Felix will continue the family literary tradition. Highly recommended.—Patsy Gray, Huntsville, AL
Guilfoile, Kevin. The Thousand. Knopf. 2010. c.337p. ISBN 978-1-4000-4309-5. $25.95. F
The Thousand, split into competing, deadly factions, follows the secret mathematics of Pythagoras. This divine math can fell planes and create divine music. It may have even caused 9/11. Set in a Vegas casino setting and then barreling across the United States like a desperate action film, Guilfoile's (Cast of Shadows) tale seems intent on getting some of The Da Vinci Code crowd. Our heroine has a brain implant that turns her into a walking, gambling, crime-solving supercomputer. The book itself struggles between the clumsy gait of a Hollywood thriller and attempts at a more thoughtful, nuanced approach. George Pelecanos can pull it off, probably because he evokes such a strong sense of place and moral consequence. Guilfoile offers a few good lines—"They were young kids, mostly, who still saw adversity as adventure or an excuse to party, or both"—but not enough.
Verdict The abundance of gunshots, explosions, and short chapters may engage voracious mystery and thriller readers, but fans of Umberto Eco, Orhan Pamuk, or even Donna Tartt probably won't make it through.—Travis Fristoe, Alachua Cty. Lib. Dist., FL
Hill, Susan. The Shadows in the Street: A Simon Serrailler Mystery. Overlook, dist. by Penguin Group (USA). Sept. 2010. c.384p. ISBN 978-1-59020-408-5. $24.95. M
Chief Inspector Simon Serrailler returns from a sabbatical on a remote Scottish island to find an apparent serial killer loose in his quiet village of Lafferton. Two local prostitutes have gone missing and are subsequently found strangled. Then the wife of the cathedral's dean disappears, as does a young woman on her way to work. Serrailler and his team follow lead after lead only to hit dead ends. The pressure mounts, and the public grows angry and very afraid. The cherished cathedral is rocked to its very foundation by turmoil and frustration. The real break comes as Serrailler's sister Cat nearly becomes the next victim.
Verdict This is the fifth of Hill's exceptional series (after The Various Haunts of Men, The Pure in Heart, The Risk of Darkness, and The Vows of Silence). Her characters continue to be intelligent and engaging, and the perfect balance of drama, atmosphere, and suspense holds the reader to the very last page. Highly recommended for fans of thoughtful British mysteries, especially those written by P.D. James, Martha Grimes, and Tana French.—Susan Clifford Braun, Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, CA
Mandelman, Avner. The Debba. Other. 2010. c.368p. ISBN 978-1-59051-370-5. pap. $14.95. F
David Starkman, a disaffected Israeli expat, apprehensively returns from Canada in 1977 for the funeral of his father, a hero of the 1948 war who subsequently went back to shoemaking. His father has placed an unusual request in his will. In order to inherit the estate, David must stage a play his father wrote that was performed only once before in 1946. The play—based on Arab folklore about the Debba, a mythical hyena that can turn human and lure Jewish children from their families—caused a near-riot at the time and seems destined to do so again, with forces inside the government determined to stop the production at any cost. Carrying it through, David unearths many secrets regarding his birth and that of his native country.
Verdict Mandelman, a veteran of the Six-Day War, has crafted a literary thriller that powerfully confronts uncomfortable paradoxes around the founding of Israel. The issues it raises are as near as the headlines, and the novel seems likely to be as controversial as the play that forms its centerpiece.—Lawrence Rungren, Merrimack Valley Lib. Consortium, North Andover, MA
O'Connor, Stephen. Here Comes Another Lesson. Free Pr: S. & S. 2010. c.224p. ISBN 978-1-4391-8199-7. pap. $16. F
This amalgam of wildly diverse stories is a reading roller coaster. Almost every story involves a bizarre or absurd setting. The reader is repeatedly challenged to comprehend the world of each story and is often left hanging. "Man in the Moon," about a persecuted minority of big-headed people, seems to be an allegory of sorts; "White Fire" is notable for its fragmented language that conveys the twisted emotions of a troubled soldier returning from war. A repeated character is the professor of atheism, appearing in six stories; particularly notable is "The Professor of Atheism: Stealing Peaches from Sam Snow," in which the professor meets God and is given a new, abbreviated set of only two commandments. Most of the stories are somewhat heartless, but there remains a thread of humor throughout and a razor-sharp investigation of the human condition that sustains the reader. The last story, "Aunt Jules," the longest of the collection, is remarkably different for its poignancy and grace; it comes across like a sweet song after the darker melodies that precede it.
Verdict For larger fiction collections and fans of self-imposed human suffering.—Henry Bankhead, Los Gatos P.L., CA
Paretsky, Sara. Body Work. Putnam. Sept. 2010. c.432p. ISBN 978-0-399-15674-8. $26.95. F
A hip new body artist becomes Chicago's latest stage attraction, drawing impassioned participation from nightclub customers. Nadia, an emotional young woman; Chad, an agitated Iraqi war veteran suffering from posttraumatic stress disorder; and Rodney, a pugnacious older guy, are all heavily involved in the artistic performances, until one volatile night when Nadia is murdered after the show. Chad is arrested, and V.I. Warshawski agrees to investigate on his behalf, mostly because Rodney's actions have aroused her suspicions. The newest in this long-running series (after Hardball) requires all of V.I.'s detecting skills as she struggles to figure out the intricate connections among such disparate individuals. Both blog postings and car chases chill V.I.'s soul as she's reminded what powerful people will do to suppress freedom. Leave it to our fierce heroine and her ensemble of friends to bring it to light.
Verdict Topically relevant and elaborately plotted, Paretsky's latest is another solid V.I. Warshawski case. Her use of body art is an inspired plot device that weaves all the way through to a clever, whirlwind finish. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/1/10.]—Teresa L. Jacobsen, Solano Cty. Lib., Fairfield, CA
Rathbone, Emma. The Patterns of Paper Monsters. Reagan Arthur: Little, Brown. 2010. c.224p. ISBN 978-0-316-07750-7. pap. $13.99. F
If you can get past the awkward and off-putting title, this is an appealing first novel. The 17-year-old narrator, Jacob Higgins, is serving time in a juvenile detention center for a failed armed robbery. Initially angry and uncommunicative, Jacob resists the attempts of his therapist to confront his problems, which include an alcoholic mother and an abusive stepfather. But Jacob's icy front begins to thaw through his attraction to another detainee, a girl named Andrea, and through his dislike of another inmate, a truly dangerous boy named David. The best and perhaps most unlikely catalyst in Jacob's transformation is a young man who volunteers to mentor Jacob; their encounters are awkward, but it is through this mentor that Jacob begins to think about the kind of life he wants for himself. Though the novel's twin climaxes aren't handled as skillfully as possible—one is overdramatized, the other undramatized—this is a totally enjoyable debut. Rathbone is a good writer, with a real flair for metaphor.
Verdict Recommended for readers who enjoy coming-of-age stories like Catcher in the Rye.—Evelyn Beck, Piedmont Technical Coll., Greenwood, SC
Nonfiction
Eyman, Scott. Empire of Dreams: The Epic Life of Cecil B. DeMille. S. & S. Sept. 2010. c.552p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-7432-8955-9. $35. FILM
Parodied for decades as a jodhpur-wearing, megalomaniacal tyrant of the old-school Hollywood type, Cecil B. DeMille wielded a prominent influence on film history that can no longer be denied. More than 50 years after his death and almost a century after he directed his first film in Hollywood, his life and work is being reevaluated. This is the second full-length biography of DeMille to be published in the last two years and the first to employ DeMille's letters and personal papers. Eyman (Lion of Hollywood: The Life and Legend of Louis B. Mayer) has written a vivid, well-researched biography of a man he describes as "primarily Edwardian" but who was such a vibrant showman that he "sustained a primarily nineteenth-century vision into the middle of the twentieth."
Verdict Simon Louvish's 2008 Cecil B. DeMille focuses more on DeMille's films, while Eyman's work concentrates on him as a man and a director. Both excellent biographies will appeal to film historians, film buffs, and readers interested in the representation of religion in film. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 4/15/10.]—Teri Shiel, Westfield State Coll. Lib., MA
Gates, Henry Louis, Jr. Faces of America: How 12 Extraordinary People Discovered Their Pasts. New York Univ. Aug. 2010. c.272p. photogs. index. ISBN 978-0-8147-3264-9. $26.95. HIST
This book is based upon the recent PBS documentary of the same name. Gates (Alphonse Fletcher University Professor, Harvard; Tradition and the Black Atlantic) researches the ancestry of 12 famous Americans. Known for his passion for genealogy, Gates extends his interest outside his own expertise, with the help of scientists and genetics labs, offering each celebrity the vivid story of his/her family's history. Gates clearly explains the role of DNA in the research but does not overstress the reader with science. The true essence of his book is what he uncovers in each subject's ancestry. Gates's goal in looking into the heritage of people like Meryl Streep, Stephen Colbert, and Kristi Yamaguchi is to share information about the challenges and difficulties immigrants to the United States have endured in starting a new life in a new country. Gates also includes each individual's reflections on what he/she has learned in the process.
Verdict In a time of volatile debate on immigration, Gates's book supports the idea that the United States is a nation built from the contributions of immigrants. The family histories here provide an inspiring and engaging read for genealogy buffs, students of American history, and fans of Gates's previous work.—Susan E. Montgomery, Rollins Coll. Lib., Winter Park, FL
Hersh, Burton. Edward Kennedy: An Intimate Biography. Counterpoint. Sept. 2010. c.688p. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-1-58243-628-9. $30. BIOG
Ted Kennedy admirers remember him as the senator most skilled in garnering bipartisan support for many bills passed during his 47 years in the Upper House, while his detractors revile him for scandals that they believe showed a flawed character. Hersh (Bobby and J. Edgar), a longtime acquaintance of Kennedy's—they graduated from Harvard together—has written a "unified biography," which combines parts of Hersh's previous three books on the Kennedys, refers to interviews with Kennedy's advisors and to conversations with Kennedy himself, and draws on Kennedy's own memoir, True Compass. The resulting detailed account of interesting insights into Kennedy's personal and political life is frequently bogged down by wordiness. Especially insightful are Hersh's take on Chappaquiddick, which mentions phone calls that a distraught Kennedy made to his mistress, and how Kennedy worked with his friend House Speaker Tip O' Neill to make President Nixon's resignation inevitable during Watergate.
Verdict If readers persevere over Hersh's rambling style, they will find a book that casts light on the glamour, triumphs, and tragedies of the late senator's life and on the Kennedy family. Primarily for Kennedy enthusiasts and historians of the era.—Karl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Leavy, Jane. The Last Boy: Mickey Mantle and the End of America's Childhood. HarperCollins. Oct. 2010. c.464p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-06-088352-2. $27.99. SPORTS
Mickey Mantle was a sensitive country boy who was both blessed and cursed. Blessed with a level of natural ability and a twist of fate that made him into a baseball legend at age 21. Cursed by injuries and by the unattainable set of expectations that came with being cast in the role of America's hero. A shy person at heart, he coped with the glare of the spotlight in the traditional ways: via alcohol and sexual profligacy. Author Leavy (Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy) conducted years of research and interviewed hundreds of people. As a sports writer for the Washington Post in the 1980s, she even interviewed the man himself on several occasions. What sets Leavy's work apart from other Mantle biographies is the framework of personal memories—her own, growing up in the Bronx during Mick's heyday, interspersed with details from 20 selected days that reveal "flashpoints" from Mantle's turbulent personal life.
Verdict Leavy's well-crafted portrait of this American hero evokes a range of emotion—admiration, disdain, and compassion—regarding a man who carried some mighty burdens upon his broad shoulders. Recommended for baseball fans and for the Yankee faithful. (Photos not seen.) [See Prepub Alert, LJ 12/1/09.]—Susanne Wells, P.L. of Cincinnati & Hamilton Cty.
Neil, Vince with Mike Sager. Tattoos & Tequila: To Hell and Back with One of Rock's Most Notorious Frontmen. Grand Central. Sept. 2010. c.320p. ISBN 978-0-446-54804-5. $27.99. MUSIC
Neil got the taste for entertaining by winning a lip-synching contest and went on to be the lead singer of the 1980s glam-metal (or hair-metal) band Mötley Crüe. Writing with Sager (Scary Monsters and Super Freaks: Stories of Sex, Drugs, Rock ´n´ Roll and Murder), Neil focuses more on his rock star lifestyle than music and conversationally intersperses recollections from family, wives, and various industry people. We read about the debauchery that the band is known for—drugs, alcohol, partying, fighting, run-ins with the law, and girls, girls, girls—and lives lived in pursuit of dissolute indulgence. Three plastic surgeries later, Neil, now in his late 40s, is a mostly sober businessman, with a solo album, a line of tequila, a charter aviation company, tattoo parlors, and bars.
Verdict While there is little reflection here, there are good rock'n'roll anecdotes, many of which are similar to the stories in the band's best-selling autobiography, Mötley Crüe: The Dirt, Nikki Sixx's The Heroine Diaries, and Tommy Lee's Tommyland.—LP Smith, Ohlone Coll. Lib., Fremont, CA
Poplak, Richard. The Sheikh's Batmobile: In Pursuit of American Pop Culture in the Muslim World. Soft Skull. Sept. 2010. c.384p. illus. maps. bibliog. ISBN 978-1-59376-292-6. pap. $15.95. TRAV
Poplak (Ja, No, Man: Growing Up White in Apartheid-Era South Africa), interested in how and why Muslims living in predominantly Muslim countries embraced some aspects of American pop culture, visited 17 countries and conducted more than 200 interviews over the course of two years. In Libya, Poplak launched his quest by delving into why Lionel Richie performed at the Hanna Peace Concert and at Colonel Gaddafi's daughter's wedding in 2006. In Dubai, Poplak encountered an American chop shop owner who restores cars and builds Batmobiles for Gulf playboys obsessed with American cars. In Afghanistan, he met an 11-year-old boy who demonstrated body slams and half nelsons. Some of the people whom Poplak introduced himself to remained perplexed about his journey, but many waxed nostalgic about American culture, particularly from the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s, when they traveled to the United States for education or training. The author suggests other books and websites for each chapter.
Verdict Poplak's fascinating premise makes for insightful and compelling reading.—Elizabeth Connor, The Citadel, Military Coll. of South Carolina Lib., Charleston
Regester, Charlene. African American Actresses: The Struggle for Visibility, 1900–1960. Indiana Univ. Aug. 2010. 440p. photogs. bibliog. index. ISBN 978-0-253-35475-4. $75; pap. ISBN 978-0-253-22192-6. $27.95. FILM
Regester (African & Afro-American studies, Univ. of North Carolina–Chapel Hill) documents the lives and careers of nine African American actresses working before the civil rights era whose "contributions to mainstream cinema have been either minimized or erased in the histories of Hollywood cinema." Madame Sul-Te-Wan had a career that was nearly half a century long, beginning with the infamously racist The Birth of a Nation (1915). Nina Mae McKinney and Fredi Washington, both described as "white mulattos," found success in part because their lighter coloring made them desirable commodities for white audiences. Louise Beavers and Hattie McDaniel (the first African American to win an Oscar) couldn't escape demeaning subservient roles. Regester also includes chapters on Lena Horne, Hazel Scott, Ethel Waters, and Dorothy Dandridge.
Verdict As Regester proves how Hollywood made African American actresses virtually invisible, she renders her own book unnoticeable to mainstream readers with a combination of overly academic posturing, tedious repetition, and careless inconsistencies. Numerous biographies and memoirs bear these actresses' names; readers might better discover these remarkable women there.-Terry Hong, Smithsonian BookDragon, Washington, DC
Whitaker, Katie. A Royal Passion: The Turbulent Marriage of King Charles I of England and Henrietta Maria of France. Norton. Aug. 2010. c.352p. photogs. bibliog. ISBN 978-0-393-06079-9. $26.95. HIST
A royal couple known for their part in bringing about religious unease and the English Civil War, Charles I of England and his wife, Henrietta Maria of France, are reexamined in this revisionist study. Whitaker (Mad Madge: The Extraordinary Life of Margaret, Duchess of Newcastle, the First Woman To Live by Her Pen) examines well-known and lesser-known works with fresh eyes and relies on primary sources to tell a more personal story of the Catholic Henrietta and the Protestant Charles. Quotations from their letters, speeches, reports, and other contemporary writings, in addition to Whitaker's extensive research into their personal lives, allow her to reach new conclusions about their personalities and relationships—with each other and others at court and beyond. Each of her book's three parts covers a period of their marriage, from the couple's first meeting, which occurred after their wedding, to Charles's death at the hands of his subjects. The accompanying illustrations add context to Whitaker's descriptions.
Verdict Whitaker weaves primary sources seamlessly into her character-driven history, offering a window into life in 17th-century England. This will appeal to readers of historical romance as well as English history.—Elizabeth Nelson, UOP Lib., Des Plaines, IL
