A moving social saga of compassion and connection.
An unlikely friendship forms between a married couple and a disabled veteran in this debut novel.
George and Alexia Demas are middle-aged idealists living in Chicago’s Wicker Park. George is a liberal-minded curmudgeon whose belief in the dignity of the common man makes him willing to go head-to-head with the system, while Alexia’s do-gooder ethos is rooted in her Greek Orthodox faith: “For I was homeless and you gave Me shelter.” They are asked to prove their generosity when Jesus “Gato” Cárdenas, a homeless Cuban émigré and Vietnam vet, enters their lives in need of help. Gato’s Supplemental Security Income has been suspended due to the misconception that Jesus Cárdenas is dead, forcing him out on the street. The Demases agree to become Gato’s payees—to receive his SSI checks on his behalf—and to house him temporarily, despite their reservations. An odd sense of family develops between Gato and the Demases, whom the vet refers to as “Dadi” and “Mami” despite the fact that they are younger than he is. But there are more secrets to the alcoholic, gangland-fluent Gato than meet the eye, and as the Demases become further enmeshed in the life of their new ward, they learn that the misconception surrounding Jesus’ death may not be entirely false. Cole writes in a conversational prose that morphs as the narration alternates among the three protagonists. The chapters read like memoirs: “Our real fear was losing our privacy,” recalls George, “losing our ability to relax in our own home, losing the relative sanity of our lives to the craziness of his.” The plot treks ambitiously into territory rarely covered in fiction, exploring the liminal space between assisted living and homelessness that so many disabled people occupy. The novel successfully evokes the frustrations and rewards that come with trying to help a stranger in a way that is both affecting and educational. Gato’s dialect-heavy narration can induce winces at times, and there is a light Christian undertone to the story that may put off some readers. Even so, Cole digs deep into his subjects to craft a satisfying modern morality tale.
A moving social saga of compassion and connection.Pub Date: May 24, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-63505-056-1
Page Count: 312
Publisher: North Loop Books
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A first novel, this is also a first person account of Scout's (Jean Louise) recall of the years that led to the ending of a mystery, the breaking of her brother Jem's elbow, the death of her father's enemy — and the close of childhood years. A widower, Atticus raises his children with legal dispassion and paternal intelligence, and is ably abetted by Calpurnia, the colored cook, while the Alabama town of Maycomb, in the 1930's, remains aloof to their divergence from its tribal patterns. Scout and Jem, with their summer-time companion, Dill, find their paths free from interference — but not from dangers; their curiosity about the imprisoned Boo, whose miserable past is incorporated in their play, results in a tentative friendliness; their fears of Atticus' lack of distinction is dissipated when he shoots a mad dog; his defense of a Negro accused of raping a white girl, Mayella Ewell, is followed with avid interest and turns the rabble whites against him. Scout is the means of averting an attack on Atticus but when he loses the case it is Boo who saves Jem and Scout by killing Mayella's father when he attempts to murder them. The shadows of a beginning for black-white understanding, the persistent fight that Scout carries on against school, Jem's emergence into adulthood, Calpurnia's quiet power, and all the incidents touching on the children's "growing outward" have an attractive starchiness that keeps this southern picture pert and provocative. There is much advance interest in this book; it has been selected by the Literary Guild and Reader's Digest; it should win many friends.
Pub Date: July 11, 1960
ISBN: 0060935464
Page Count: 323
Publisher: Lippincott
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 1960
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.
Coelho is a Brazilian writer with four books to his credit. Following Diary of a Magus (1992—not reviewed) came this book, published in Brazil in 1988: it's an interdenominational, transcendental, inspirational fable—in other words, a bag of wind.
The story is about a youth empowered to follow his dream. Santiago is an Andalusian shepherd boy who learns through a dream of a treasure in the Egyptian pyramids. An old man, the king of Salem, the first of various spiritual guides, tells the boy that he has discovered his destiny: "to realize one's destiny is a person's only real obligation." So Santiago sells his sheep, sails to Tangier, is tricked out of his money, regains it through hard work, crosses the desert with a caravan, stops at an oasis long enough to fall in love, escapes from warring tribesmen by performing a miracle, reaches the pyramids, and eventually gets both the gold and the girl. Along the way he meets an Englishman who describes the Soul of the World; the desert woman Fatima, who teaches him the Language of the World; and an alchemist who says, "Listen to your heart" A message clings like ivy to every encounter; everyone, but everyone, has to put in their two cents' worth, from the crystal merchant to the camel driver ("concentrate always on the present, you'll be a happy man"). The absence of characterization and overall blandness suggest authorship by a committee of self-improvement pundits—a far cry from Saint- Exupery's The Little Prince: that flagship of the genre was a genuine charmer because it clearly derived from a quirky, individual sensibility.
Coelho's placebo has racked up impressive sales in Brazil and Europe. Americans should flock to it like gulls.Pub Date: July 1, 1993
ISBN: 0-06-250217-4
Page Count: 192
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1993
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
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