Over the top, but many readers will go wild for this gospel-spouting, life-affirming story.
From beginning to end, the Lord is the most significant character in this determined, lively novel, a spiritually confident first collaboration between music author Ritz (Howling at the Moon, 2003, etc.) and R&B-singer-turned-minister John.
Albertina Merci is a former blues backup singer now in her 70s. As a “minister without a sanctuary” in Los Angeles, she studies her Bible every day and doesn’t hesitate to impart the Word to her friends as she sees fit. Justine comes over to Albertina’s house every morning to watch Maggie’s World, an Oprah-like program hosted by glamorous ex-athlete, model and unstoppable businesswoman Maggie Clay. But suddenly the show is on the skids: Maggie is descending into manic depression, and her producer, Albertina’s Yale-educated niece Cindy, has stage IV ovarian cancer. When Cindy asks her aunt to come back to Dallas and minister to her, Albertina is reluctant. Her hometown brings back memories of prejudice and pain: As a young girl, she was arrested at Neiman Marcus for touching the furs, and a store detective broke her jaw. But Albertina is an instrument of God, and she knows she is needed at Cindy’s side. After her niece dies, Albertina focuses on Maggie. Having witnessed as a kid her mother’s duping by ministers, Maggie is skeptical of Albertina’s religion and in her manic state even attacks her as a sanctimonious hypocrite. While the two wrangle, Albertina attends to other souls in need, including an estranged married couple and a father who rejects his gay son who is dying of AIDS.
Over the top, but many readers will go wild for this gospel-spouting, life-affirming story.Pub Date: June 13, 2006
ISBN: 0-7679-2165-8
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2006
These letters from some important executive Down Below, to one of the junior devils here on earth, whose job is to corrupt mortals, are witty and written in a breezy style seldom found in religious literature. The author quotes Luther, who said: "The best way to drive out the devil, if he will not yield to texts of Scripture, is to jeer and flout him, for he cannot bear scorn." This the author does most successfully, for by presenting some of our modern and not-so-modern beliefs as emanating from the devil's headquarters, he succeeds in making his reader feel like an ass for ever having believed in such ideas. This kind of presentation gives the author a tremendous advantage over the reader, however, for the more timid reader may feel a sense of guilt after putting down this book. It is a clever book, and for the clever reader, rather than the too-earnest soul.
Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1942
ISBN: 0060652934
Page Count: 53
Publisher: Macmillan
Review Posted Online: Oct. 17, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 1943
Hoffman (The Red Garden, 2011, etc.) births literature from tragedy: the destruction of Jerusalem's Temple, the siege of Masada and the loss of Zion.
This is a feminist tale, a story of strong, intelligent women wedded to destiny by love and sacrifice. Told in four parts, the first comes from Yael, daughter of Yosef bar Elhanan, a Sicarii Zealot assassin, rejected by her father because of her mother's death in childbirth. It is 70 CE, and the Temple is destroyed. Yael, her father, and another Sicarii assassin, Jachim ben Simon, and his family flee Jerusalem. Hoffman's research renders the ancient world real as the group treks into Judea's desert, where they encounter Essenes, search for sustenance and burn under the sun. There too Jachim and Yael begin a tragic love affair. At Masada, Yael is sent to work in the dovecote, gathering eggs and fertilizer. She meets Shirah, her daughters, and Revka, who narrates part two. Revka's husband was killed when Romans sacked their village. Later, her daughter was murdered. At Masada, caring for grandsons turned mute by tragedy, Revka worries over her scholarly son-in-law, Yoav, now consumed by vengeance. Aziza, daughter of Shirah, carries the story onward. Born out of wedlock, Aziza grew up in Moab, among the people of the blue tunic. Her passion and curse is that she was raised as a warrior by her foster father. In part four, Shirah tells of her Alexandrian youth, the cherished daughter of a consort of the high priests. Shirah is a keshaphim, a woman of amulets, spells and medicine, and a woman connected to Shechinah, the feminine aspect of God. The women are irretrievably bound to Eleazar ben Ya'ir, Masada's charismatic leader; Amram, Yael's brother; and Yoav, Aziza's companion and protector in battle. The plot is intriguingly complex, with only a single element unresolved. An enthralling tale rendered with consummate literary skill.
Pub Date: Oct. 4, 2011
ISBN: 978-1-4516-1747-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: April 5, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2011
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