An often vivid but overlong set of works about America’s idols.
A massive collection of long-form poems inspired by legendary American figures and folklore.
This magnum opus of poetry is divided into 10 sections, with the first, “U. S. Rivers: Highway 1,” describing the path on the titular road from Key West, Florida, to Maine. Each state contains its own rich history that plays a part in the country’s larger narrative. “Old California” is a subtly comedic take on that state’s residents, with a special focus on Monterey. “Paul Bunyan” retells the story of the mythical lumberjack while “John Henry” catalogs the life and death of that steel-driving man in a rhyming, songlike structure. War and its legacy are at the center of “Chief Joseph,” and the Wild West features heavily in “Wyatt Earp.” The circus comes to town, with all its hyperbole and mischief, in “P. T. Barnum,” and a ghost laments that Amelia Earhart’s death is a key aspect of her fame in a section named after the doomed aviator. “Blue Ridge” is a pastoral poem that involves time travel. “U. S. Rivers: Route 66” again takes readers onto the open road. The collection concludes with sheet music for two songs, “On the balcony, the moon” and “Ballad of Mattie.” Beckett has clearly done his research in order to provide details that capture the spirit of the United States and of major figures who made their mark on the country. He endeavors to use historically accurate diction, from full Spanish sentences in “Old California” to African American Vernacular English in “John Henry,” and his descriptions are often powerful, as in a line that paints Paul Bunyan as “A man mountain, all hustle, all muscle and bull bones” or a passage from the perspective of a deceased Amelia Earhart: “as the fish knock / my ribs, and coral grows on my white bones, / unsleeping, in the lurid current, clouds / foam, in seaweed.” But at more than 750 pages, this tome sorely needed pruning, as its excessive length will dissuade even the most ambitious readers from attempting to conquer it.
An often vivid but overlong set of works about America’s idols.Pub Date: April 15, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-947041-71-4
Page Count: 770
Publisher: Running Wild Press
Review Posted Online: June 23, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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