Not an easy read, and at times overlong, but a book with moments of brilliance.
The persecution of Majorcan Jews during the Spanish Inquisition is the rich subject of this ambitious 1994 novel, the second book in English translation from the prominent Catalan author (A Matter of Self-Esteem, 2001).
The complex, somewhat labored opening chapters offer both clever misdirection and vivid exposition—first in the romantic adventure of a corsair captain summoned to the bedroom of a mysterious beauty (later identified as a wealthy widow sympathetic to Jewish citizens), then in the emotional turmoil undergone by Jewish silversmith Rafel Cortès, Costura, who has converted to Catholicism and has all but resolved to betray his cousin and namesake (who has retained their family’s faith) to Father Ferrando, the Machiavellian priest who sees the Inquisition’s gathering momentum as his stepping-stone to higher “spiritual” achievement. Riera then introduces a fascinating gallery of variously involved characters, among them putative “rabbi” Gabriel Valls, the Majorcan Jews’ spiritual patriarch; compassionate Father Amengual (Father Ferrando’s temperamental and moral opposite); Viceroy Santomaro y Ampuero, whose official duties are compromised by insatiable sexual appetites; and merchant Pere Onofre Aguiló, who masterminds the endangered Jews’ escape aboard a ship bound for Livorno. Bad weather intervenes, informers betray their neighbors and fugitives are arrested, detained at the Zola-esque Black House deep in the recesses of the Inquisitorial Palace—and interrogation and torture ensue, climaxing with a vengeful “purificatory fire.” (In a moving final paragraph comes the explanation of Riera’s perfectly chosen title.) This is very nearly a great novel: It’s exalted by its recreation of a time (the late 17th century) and place imperiled by religious violence—surely a subject that should attract the attention of contemporary readers—but it’s flawed by the author’s tendency to provide exhaustive background information for virtually every major character, each of whose thoughts and memories are likewise lavishly detailed.
Not an easy read, and at times overlong, but a book with moments of brilliance.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2007
ISBN: 1-58567-853-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Overlook
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2006
BOOK REVIEW
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.
Written with quiet dignity that builds to a climax of tragic force, this book about the dissolution of an African tribe, its traditions, and values, represents a welcome departure from the familiar "Me, white brother" genre.
Written by a Nigerian African trained in missionary schools, this novel tells quietly the story of a brave man, Okonkwo, whose life has absolute validity in terms of his culture, and who exercises his prerogative as a warrior, father, and husband with unflinching single mindedness. But into the complex Nigerian village filters the teachings of strangers, teachings so alien to the tribe, that resistance is impossible. One must distinguish a force to be able to oppose it, and to most, the talk of Christian salvation is no more than the babbling of incoherent children. Still, with his guns and persistence, the white man, amoeba-like, gradually absorbs the native culture and in despair, Okonkwo, unable to withstand the corrosion of what he, alone, understands to be the life force of his people, hangs himself. In the formlessness of the dying culture, it is the missionary who takes note of the event, reminding himself to give Okonkwo's gesture a line or two in his work, The Pacification of the Primitive Tribes of the Lower Niger.
This book sings with the terrible silence of dead civilizations in which once there was valor.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 1958
ISBN: 0385474547
Page Count: 207
Publisher: McDowell, Obolensky
Review Posted Online: April 23, 2013
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1958
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Jonathan Livingston Kitty, it’s not.
A lonely postman learns that he’s about to die—and reflects on life as he bargains with a Hawaiian-shirt–wearing devil.
The 30-year-old first-person narrator in filmmaker/novelist Kawamura’s slim novel is, by his own admission, “boring…a monotone guy,” so unimaginative that, when he learns he has a brain tumor, the bucket list he writes down is dull enough that “even the cat looked disgusted with me.” Luckily—or maybe not—a friendly devil, dubbed Aloha, pops onto the scene, and he’s willing to make a deal: an extra day of life in exchange for being allowed to remove something pleasant from the world. The first thing excised is phones, which goes well enough. (The narrator is pleasantly surprised to find that “people seemed to have no problem finding something to fill up their free time.”) But deals with the devil do have a way of getting complicated. This leads to shallow musings (“Sometimes, when you rewatch a film after not having seen it for a long time, it makes a totally different impression on you than it did the first time you saw it. Of course, the movie hasn’t changed; it’s you who’s changed") written in prose so awkward, it’s possibly satire (“Tears dripped down onto the letter like warm, salty drops of rain”). Even the postman’s beloved cat, who gains the power of speech, ends up being prim and annoying. The narrator ponders feelings about a lost love, his late mother, and his estranged father in a way that some readers might find moving at times. But for many, whatever made this book a bestseller in Japan is going to be lost in translation.
Jonathan Livingston Kitty, it’s not.Pub Date: March 12, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-250-29405-0
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2019
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
