A pensive work that incorporates international history, compelling characterization, and poetic prose and will appeal to a...
A man at the height of a law career recalls his youth in his Iranian homeland in this novel.
New York City–based attorney Montagu (Intellectual Property, 2012), who’s also a visiting faculty member of Princeton University’s comparative literature department, crafts an immersive tale of identity, sexuality, and self-discovery featuring his alluring protagonist, Eric Richardson. The three-part story—which refers to the ancient riddle of the Sphinx regarding the three eras of man (infancy, adulthood, and old age)—employs a smooth, lyrical prose style that ably balances history and beguiling fiction. It begins with Eric as a youth growing up in Tehran in the 1970s. Then named “Keyvan,” he was a child of divorced parents who enjoyed a comfortable life as the area’s oil and real estate markets boomed. The narrative fills in the background of Keyvan’s family and of his own coming-of-age, which is “punctuated by personal, rather than political dramas,” the narrator notes, even as civil unrest increases in the streets. Eventually, the shah goes into exile as the Iranian Revolution gains momentum. Montagu’s depiction of Keyvan’s departure from Iran in 1978 is nail-bitingly suspenseful as he clandestinely travels with his mother across borderlands with heavily guarded checkpoints. The second section follows Keyvan, now using the name “Eric,” through the 1980s, his upbringing in France, and his arrival at Princeton University. There, he receives an Ivy League education while navigating a new way of life on campus. As the social aspects of school life, and Eric’s increasing self-awareness about being bisexual, come into play, Montagu writes eloquently and tastefully of several intense trysts that Eric has with fellow student Mark, whom he’s tutoring in French. Readers will be drawn in as the protagonist struggles with his sexuality, falls in love with a man whose feelings differ from his, and tries to find meaning and direction after a sudden, catastrophic revelation. The concluding section starts with Eric having graduated from law school. He’s now gainfully employed at a leading New York City law firm; he’s also married to a woman and is a father to two daughters. Later, it’s revealed that he hadn’t told his wife that he was bisexual. Interestingly, the reliability of Eric as a narrator is undermined by other revelations as the novel comes to an end. These unexpected elements will cause readers to question the validity and the veracity of his entire story. Overall, though, the book will appeal to readers who are looking for a unique tale of self-realization that’s introspective, reflective, and philosophical. At the same time, the book provides an authentic and vividly described history of the Middle East, of the wide-ranging reforms that the area has experienced over the years, and of Islamic culture. The combination of these elements results in a novel that’s engrossing and educational—as well as one that provides some food for thought in its final pages.
A pensive work that incorporates international history, compelling characterization, and poetic prose and will appeal to a wide variety of readers.Pub Date: April 2, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73260-210-6
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Persepolis Press
Review Posted Online: April 15, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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