Word: hexed
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: during 1990-1999
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
Even so, these tests can spot only visible abnormalities in the 23 pairs of chromosomes we inherit from our parents, such as the extra chromosome associated with Down syndrome, a form of mental retardation, or biochemical errors, such as a reduced level of hex-A enzyme that brings on Tay-Sachs disease, a fatal metabolic disorder. Moreover, the results may be confused by so-called chromosome structural abnormalities--oddball configurations that may or may not have a genetically significant effect, thus exasperating couples who expect clear-cut answers from amniocentesis...
...Hex Raitcliffe, as Moody makes very clear in the first short chapter of the novel, is a hero, "and if he's a hero, then heroes are five-and-dime, and the world is as crowded with them as it is with stray pets, worn tires, and missing keys." He is a saint maybe, like one of the exceedingly normal yet extraordinarily courageous and strong characters who populate the works of Anne Tyler; a modern day tragic hero whose Achilles' heel and fatal flaw is a penchant for liquor. Lou Sloane's abrupt and cruel parting from Billie rouses Hex...
...doesn't travel very far, however, because he still loves Billie and because he wants to be useful in the face of a crisis at the nuclear power plant. His wandering contrasts nicely with Hex's, who in the course of the evening on which the book is set takes his mother to a restaurant and to a hospital, drunkenly stalks Lou in an effort to convince him to return to Billie, and kindles a romance with the dreamgirl of his adolescence as she falls into his life "like an influenza." All the while, Hex and Billie are haunted...
...characters and of Purple America. He's got a knack for poeticizing the mundane with a well-placed, nicely phrased philosophical riff, like when Lou interrupts his constant agonizing over the power plant to observe "the sun balanced on the very spot where sea meets coast." The nuances of Hex's odd childhood, when pretentious Billie served him meals with "frozen foods accompanying the fine wines of Bordeaux," and when Hex wanted nothing more than to muse over "the math of [girls'] pulses," are immaculately rendered...
Moody has the unusual talent of being able to describe a scene beautifully is slow motion with language that never gets boring; his description of Hex's high school flame's walk to his table is unforgettable...