Joyless, ludicrous soap opera.
Another novel of romantic complications in Chicago from Johnson (Love Frustration, 2002, etc.), who shows a lifelong friendship put to the test when two buddies fall in love with the same woman.
After his troubled mother found taking care of him too much to bear, ten-year-old Pete was taken in and raised by Wayne’s affluent parents. The boys became closer than brothers; now they share a successful medical practice. Their teenage vow to never let a woman come between them was tested when they met Carla. Pete spotted her first, but handsome, confident Wayne swooped in, and the two got engaged. Shortly before their wedding, though, Wayne had a quick last fling with an old flame, and Pete told Carla. She ditched him and married Pete, but the two men, miraculously, remained friends. Two years later, Carla is secretly seeing Wayne, who wants her back. She decides to break off their nonsexual relationship to save her marriage, but not before Pete, feeling neglected, has an ill-advised one-night stand with a patient. His shattered wife tells him that she plans to have an affair of her own. Torn apart at the thought of losing Carla, Pete comes up with a bizarre proposal. Since she will only take him back after she gets revenge, Pete insists that he should pick her one-time lover—and guess who he chooses? Wayne is now engaged to beautiful Me’Shell, and Pete knows his “brother” would never betray him, so he figures he can control the situation; he even draws up a contract for the adulterous night of love, complete with specific do’s and don’ts. The plan backfires in every possible way as Pete becomes violently jealous when he discovers that Carla and Wayne still have feelings for each other. The three then indulge in a tedious game of back and forth, pitting friendship against love and acting like five-year-olds until the nonsensical climax.
Joyless, ludicrous soap opera.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-7432-8519-0
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2006
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an...
True love flares between two people, but they find that circumstances always impede it.
On a winter day in London, Laurie spots Jack from her bus home and he sparks a feeling in her so deep that she spends the next year searching for him. Her roommate and best friend, Sarah, is the perfect wing-woman but ultimately—and unknowingly—ends the search by finding Jack and falling for him herself. Laurie’s hasty decision not to tell Sarah is the second painful missed opportunity (after not getting off the bus), but Sarah’s happiness is so important to Laurie that she dedicates ample energy into retraining her heart not to love Jack. Laurie is misguided, but her effort and loyalty spring from a true heart, and she considers her project mostly successful. Perhaps she would have total success, but the fact of the matter is that Jack feels the same deep connection to Laurie. His reasons for not acting on them are less admirable: He likes Sarah and she’s the total package; why would he give that up just because every time he and Laurie have enough time together (and just enough alcohol) they nearly fall into each other’s arms? Laurie finally begins to move on, creating a mostly satisfying life for herself, whereas Jack’s inability to be genuine tortures him and turns him into an ever bigger jerk. Patriarchy—it hurts men, too! There’s no question where the book is going, but the pacing is just right, the tone warm, and the characters sympathetic, even when making dumb decisions.
Anyone who believes in true love or is simply willing to accept it as the premise of a winding tale will find this debut an emotional, satisfying read.Pub Date: Oct. 16, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-525-57468-2
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: July 30, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2018
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal...
A gumbo seasoned with ghosts, love, and murder on the bayou.
When 30-something Declan Fitzgerald of Boston, a successful lawyer and a member of a large and loving family, breaks off his engagement to very suitable Jessica, he knows he needs to change his life. Lawyering is not fun anymore, so, recalling Manet Hall, an old deserted plantation house he once visited with law school classmate and New Orleans native Remy, he buys the property and moves down south. Declan is also a gifted craftsman, a born decorator, and very, very rich. Soon, he meets beautiful Lena, who’s visiting her grandmother Odette, Declan’s friendly Cajun neighbor. Declan is as certain that Lena is destined to be his wife as he was that Manet Hall would become his home. But, surprise, Lena has a troubled past (like the house) and is determined to resist Declan’s courtship. While he suits Lena and works on the place, Declan experiences troubling dreams. It seems he’s actually reliving the novel’s parallel story, which took place in 1899. In that year, the maid, Abbey Manet (from whom Lena, coincidentally, is descended, and who married wealthy Lucian Manet), was raped and murdered by her brother-in-law Julian as she nursed her baby daughter. Her body was dumped into the bayou by her mother-in-law, who despised her. And grief-stricken husband Lucian, away at the time, being told that Abbey had run off, committed suicide. Now, in an unconvincing twist of gender and reincarnation, it’s Declan who hears a baby crying , experiences childbirth and rape as the reincarnation of Abbey, while Lena is Lucian. The two accept all this with equanimity, and, Manet Hall’s secrets revealed, it becomes the setting for predictable and much foreshadowed resolutions.
Agreeably credible lovers and a neat piece of home-restoration compensate some for the hokey hauntings on the bayou. Loyal fans will enjoy.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-399-14824-8
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Putnam
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2001
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