Word: kirkus
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...BLACK AND BLUE: Kirkus sheds a tear over "West of Rehoboth" by Alexs Pate (Morrow/HarperCollins; September 7), giving it a starred review. "A profoundly affecting story about a bright black kid?s first brushes with bigotry, in a fifth novel from the award- winning author of ?The Multicultiboho Show.? It?s 1962, early July, in sizzling, smoldering North Philly - no place for a 12-year-old African-American who happens to prefer Agatha Christie to street fighting. Every summer Edward Massey?s working-class parents, fiercely protective, hustle him out of town and down to Rehoboth Beach, where his Aunt...
...English Dictionary. His new book, "The Map That Changed the World: William Smith and the Birth of Modern Geology" (HarperCollins; August 14) tells the story of William Smith, "whose lifelong obsession with fossils and the strata of rock formations proved to be the foundation for the science of geology." Kirkus adored it, giving it a starred review. "A fluid, fascinating, emotional story of an unlikely genius who created a science." HarperCollins is really behind this book, which goes on the WSJ bestseller list this week...
...Gave Me" (Knopf; October 10). PW replies, Who cares? "Thin, disappointing...FORECAST: Already the subject of a NYT piece suggesting this ?autopathography? may become the target of a backlash against such transgressive confessions, Kaysen?s slight memoir will spark some controversy, but don?t expect ?Girl, Interrupted?-level sales." Kirkus is more entertained. "Pithy, funny, adventurous, sexy, and eye-opening...Disguised as plain, brown memoir, a voluptuous exploration of sexuality, aging, the failures of modern medicine, attempts at self-knowledge, and the meaning of pain." The book gives no explanation for the odd title...
...PUZO PLUMMETS: Mario Puzo died in 1999, but his last novel is being published now. "The Family," which will be published by ReganBooks on October 2, was finished by Carol Gino, Puzo?s longtime companion. Kirkus winces. "The old, black magic just isn?t here. ?The Family? is Godfather Lite. Eminently skippable." But Judith Regan, with a first printing of 250,000, is betting that most people don?t read Kirkus...
...PLAYING WITH FIRE: Sebastian Junger's first book, "The Perfect Storm" (1997), was a huge bestseller that was made into a movie. Kirkus is betting on his follow-up book, "Fire" (Norton; October 1), giving it a starred review. "Run-for-cover writing from scary places, by Junger, a man with an appetite for the ragged edge of life and ability to write abut it with restrained power. The ten pieces in this collection of magazine articles, one of which won a National Magazine Award for Reporting, have the authentic tang of dispatches from the front...Deeply affecting stories...