An exuberant attempt to go where many, many men have gone before.
Cuban poet and novelist Gutiérrez (Dirty Havana Trilogy, 2002, not reviewed) takes another tropical-flavored stab at the old-fashioned cockmansroman.
In his youth, Pedro Juan was christened the man with the “golden” member, and, at 50, he’s still got it. Within the first few pages, he has phone sex with Agneta, a Swedish woman he seduced with naked photographs; pontificates on the political good of sleeping with black women; absentmindedly fondles the “mental defective” downstairs neighbor in the lift (“she says very little, but she groans well”) and dreams about stimulating a male monkey. Enter Gloria, a 29-year-old Havana mulatta, who alternately begs papi to whip and impregnate her, and buys him rum and beach trips with the proceeds from paying customers. Pedro Juan is certain that she’s the subject of his second novel and, perhaps, his future wife. But when the Swede offers him a flimsy academic fellowship, as well as her substantial female companionship, Gloria, a professional colleague, understands. Thus Pedro Juan undertakes a merry international caper at waist-level, while spilling hard-won truths, such as race-based differences in crotch odors; the erotic necessity of sweat and armpit hair; why women prefer men who beat them and why intellectuals are bad in bed. But disappointment lies ahead: Despite having large Scandinavian breasts, the Swede is reluctant to participate in many bedroom activities, eats regular meals (mostly bread and salmon), drinks tea during the rum hour, and even requests warm milk after a long night of clubbing. The Swede, for her part, becomes a little queasy when Pedro Juan describes coupling with barnyard animals and lesbians (who love to be sodomized). He marvels that she just doesn’t get it, chucks that damn chilly Swede, and warms up next to Gloria when she is, you know, free. Gloria sweetly rolls a roomful of sailors and comes back with enough pocket money for the month. Could it be time to settle down? Could be, love, could be.
An exuberant attempt to go where many, many men have gone before.Pub Date: Jan. 4, 2005
ISBN: 0-7867-1499-9
Page Count: 320
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2004
BOOK REVIEW
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it...
Harris, creator of grand, symphonic thrillers from Fatherland (1992) to An Officer and a Spy (2014), scores with a chamber piece of a novel set in the Vatican in the days after a fictional pope dies.
Fictional, yes, but the nameless pontiff has a lot in common with our own Francis: he’s famously humble, shunning the lavish Apostolic Palace for a small apartment, and he is committed to leading a church that engages with the world and its problems. In the aftermath of his sudden death, rumors circulate about the pope’s intention to fire certain cardinals. At the center of the action is Cardinal Lomeli, Dean of the College of Cardinals, whose job it is to manage the conclave that will elect a new pope. He believes it is also his duty to uncover what the pope knew before he died because some of the cardinals in question are in the running to succeed him. “In the running” is an apt phrase because, as described by Harris, the papal conclave is the ultimate political backroom—albeit a room, the Sistine Chapel, covered with Michelangelo frescoes. Vying for the papal crown are an African cardinal whom many want to see as the first black pope, a press-savvy Canadian, an Italian arch-conservative (think Cardinal Scalia), and an Italian liberal who wants to continue the late pope’s campaign to modernize the church. The novel glories in the ancient rituals that constitute the election process while still grounding that process in the real world: the Sistine Chapel is fitted with jamming devices to thwart electronic eavesdropping, and the pressure to act quickly is increased because “rumours that the pope is dead are already trending on social media.”
An illuminating read for anyone interested in the inner workings of the Catholic Church; for prelate-fiction superfans, it is pure temptation.Pub Date: Nov. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-451-49344-6
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Sept. 6, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2016
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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