Xpress Reviews—First Look at New Books
-- Library Journal, 7/15/2006
Fiction
Shaara, Lila. Every Secret Thing. Ballantine. Jul. 2006. c.464p. ISBN 0-345-48565-3. $24.95. F
Gina is an ambivalent mother of twin boys who gave up her lucrative career as a lingerie model to pursue a more academic career as a college professor. She plays down her physical beauty by dressing in baggy clothes and eschewing makeup, but still has men falling for her, including two cops who are assigned to her case after two of her students are suspected of stalking her and may be involved in a murder. Debut novelist Shaara covers such a multitudes of themes—anorexia in the modeling profession, cyber-stalking, the arrogance of the wealthy, the Irish mafia, lesbian relationships, the inefficiency of the justice system, and dysfunctional families—that it is hard to identify her main focus. Descriptions are often so overwrought and cringe-inducing (for the reader), and the concluding surprising twist involving Gina's sister seems like an afterthought. Trying to pack too much into one novel, Shaara may aspire to join the literary circle of her brother and father, authors Jeff (Gods and Generals) and Michael Shaara (The Killer Angels) but it is going to take more than name recognition to make this book a bestseller. Recommended only for libraries with requests for the title.—Karen Traynor, Sullivan Free Lib., Chittenango, NY
Crouch, Stanley. Considering Genius: Writings on Jazz. Basic Civitas: Perseus. Jul. 2006. c.368p. index. ISBN 0-465-01517-4 [ISBN 978-0-465-01517-7]. $28. MUSIC
Punditry and criticism often can work together, offering insight and analysis for issues such as those included in this collection of Crouch's most controversial essays (two are new). These issues include race relations and the jazz field in its many colors, including the musicians and the different angles of jazz from which they play. However, mixed with dogmatic and unnecessarily argumentative and unsupported comments, of which Crouch is a master, any insights and positives will be too often lost on unsuspecting readers. Given the likelihood of such a reaction, Crouch's editor should have interpolated explanations for each chapter. As it is, most chapters appear out of nowhere with little or no idea given on what Crouch is writing. Many chapters are simply liner notes he has written for recordings, but one must often guess the context to have any clue as to where he is leading. This book will mostly puzzle neophytes or casual readers of Crouch, and those who know his writing will likely dismiss much of it as sloppy and, unfortunately, so dogmatic as to make it worthless. That's bad, because, without a doubt, there are nuggets of great writing here. For larger collections only.—William G. Kenz, Minnesota State Univ. Lib., Moorhead
Gallagher, Dorothy. Strangers in the House: Life Stories. Random. Jul. 2006. c.176p. ISBN 1-4000-6257-8. $22.95. LIT
Former Redbook features editor Gallagher (How I Came Into My Inheritance and Other True Stories) presents a collection of short autobiographical pieces, often located in New York City, that are tied together with humor and poignancy. Gallagher writes from a place of deep reflection and regard for the intricacies of human relationships without succumbing to sentimentality. In "The Vicinity of Art," she ponders her inability to see the genius in her friend's playwright husband. In "Jury Duty," she recounts the details of a murder trial for which she helped deliver a guilty verdict. "Stay" provides a heartbreaking portrait of the interwoven relationship between her husband's worsening multiple sclerosis and the shenanigans and ultimate death of their adopted dog, Harry. Other chapters deal with a missing former Communist; a year-long affair with a questionably gay academic who may have been French theorist Michel Foucault's lover; Gallagher's poor and disheveled Moscow-based cousin; and the "household politics" of hired help. Recommended for larger public and academic libraries.—Stacy Shotsberger Russo, California State Univ. Lib., Fullerton
Gastman, Roger & others. Freight Train Graffiti. Abrams. 2006. 352p. photogs. index. ISBN 0-8109-9249-3. pap. $29.95. FINE ARTS
Whether or not freight train graffiti merits serious consideration as art is not an issue discussed in this book. Instead, authors Gastman (copublisher, Swindle), Darin Rowland, and Ian Sattler, all personally connected to the graffiti subculture, provide an uncritical history of the phenomenon along with brief statements from more than 125 graffiti writers. Graffiti writing is presented as a cultural and communication movement created by young people rebelling against societal strictures who seek fame by putting their marks on cars that will travel great distances and be seen by many. Scant consideration is given to describing or analyzing the work's aesthetic qualities. The graffiti, consisting chiefly of ornate versions of the graffiti writer's chosen names, is presented in 1000 small, brightly colored photographs, giving the book visual appeal while also revealing the small range of variation in the images. Most suitable for public libraries and collections emphasizing graphic arts, design, or topics of interest to teens and young adults. [The book's publication coincided with events at the Chelsea Art Museum, NY, and MoCa, Los Angeles.—Ed.]—Kathryn Wekselman, M.Ln., Cincinnati
Kutschbach, Doris. Living Monet: The Artist's Gardens. Prestel. Jul. 2006. 145p. illus. ISBN 3-7913-3551-0 [ISBN 978-3-7913-3551-3]. $35. FINE ARTS
The garden was a constant source of inspiration for Claude Monet throughout his life. Cultivated spots around his house looked like the Impressionist paintings that he created, jam-packed from top to bottom and from side to side with color, form, and a play of light and shade. Kutschbach (Henri Rousseau's Jungle Book) highlights these similarities in this lovely coffee-table book, with beautiful prints of Monet's works juxtaposed with colorful photos of the flowers that gave impetus to the paintings. Period photos of Monet reveal him as a person instead of just an artistic figure, and photos of his homes further illustrate him as a man and show his artistic flair with house paints as well as oils and pastels. Even a few recipes are included to complete the feel of "home." Monet's gardens have been the subject of several books so the information presented is not new. However, the combination of photos, flowers, and paintings here is pleasing to eye and soul. Those looking for more comprehensive coverage of the subject should consider Christoph Becker's more scholarly Monet's Garden. Recommended where need warrants.—Nadine Dalton Speidel, Cuyahoga Cty. P.L., Parma, OH
Stark, Rodney. Cities of God: The Real Story of How Christianity Became an Urban Movement and Conquered Rome. HarperSanFrancisco: HarperCollins. Nov. 2006. c.288p. maps. bibliog. index. ISBN 0-06-085842-7 [ISBN 978-0-06-085842-1]. $24.95. REL
Statistics and religion are almost always considered strange bedfellows, but in this case Stark (social sciences, Baylor Univ., TX), the author of 26 books on the history and sociology of religion, shows that quantitative measures can enhance our understanding of how Christianity really developed in the first century C.E. He even takes to task historians who are loathe "to count" and hence miss the facts that inscriptions and census information can provide for thorough research and in helping to resolve many debates about early Church history. This is partly a biography of the 31 early cities which at the time exceeded a population of 30,000—from Nisibus in the east to London and Cadiz in the west. Stark shows statistically how each city was influenced by Christianity, gnosticism, paganism, Cybelism, Mithraism, and even Isiacism. His conclusions include such beliefs as that even though Paul was called the apostle to the Gentiles, he mostly converted Hellenic Jews of the Diaspora and that gnosticism was not a more authentic form of Christianity but an unsuccessful effort to paganize Christianity. Strongly recommended for all libraries, especially for those specializing in Early Christian history.—Gary P. Gillum, Brigham Young Univ., Provo, UT
Suskind, Ron. The One Percent Doctrine: Deep Inside America's Pursuit of Its Enemies Since 9/11. S & S. Jun 2006. c.367p. index. ISBN 0-7432-7109-2 [ISBN 978-0-7432-7109-7]. $27.00. POLI SCI
Suskind is the author of The Price of Loyalty and received a Pulitzer while at the Wall Street Journal. Here he examines the intersection between intelligence, policy, and personality in the Bush administration's response to al Qaeda threats. The title refers to the Cheney doctrine that if there's even a one percent chance of the unimaginable coming true, act as if it is a certainty. The doctrine divided the requirement for action, military or diplomatic, from analysis, and as it evolved over the next few years meant in effect that the slightest suspicion could be used to justify any action. The book is largely written from the CIA's perspective and seems to depend greatly on the experiences of George Tenet, Director of Central Intelligence during the period. The author analyzes the governing processes that an extremely smart and experienced inner circle produced around a President who, though a decisive leader, was not a reader, disliked analysis, and was inclined to make decisions based on personalities and intuition rather than complex, shaded, or ambiguous facts. Although there is some evidence of hasty editing in the finished book, this is an insightful work, full of thought about the difficult choices the United States faces. While most of the factual reporting is familiar territory, the material on financial intelligence is particularly informative, as is the discussion of international intelligence relationships. Recommended and sure to be widely read. —Edwin B. Burgess, U.S. Army Combined Arms Research Lib., Fort Leavenworth, KS
Fiction
Margolin, Phillip. Proof Positive. HarperCollins. Jul. 2006. c.320p. ISBN 0-06-073505-8 [ISBN 978-0-06-073505-0]. $25.95. F
Criminal defense attorney Amanda Jaffe, heroine of Margolin's Wild Justice and Ties That Bind, has her work cut out for her in this outing. Lawyer Doug Weaver is suffering from nightmares after witnessing the execution of a client whom he had advised to plead guilty to matricide in the erroneous hope of avoiding the death penalty. A mobster is accused of murdering a drug addict after his fingerprints are found at the scene of the crime. A deranged homeless man is charged with committing a ghastly murder when the victim's blood is found on his clothes. The forensic evidence against all three men is overwhelming—unless it is being manufactured. Enter Jaffe, who gets some help from her father, Weaver, and a private forensic scientist. Forensic science is hot, and Margolin brings it to the forefront in this gruesome and frightening legal thriller Recommended for all public libraries. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 3/15/06.]—Stacy Alesi, Southwest Cty. Regional Lib., Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., Boca Raton, FL
McLarin, Kim. Jump at the Sun. Morrow. Jul. 2006. c.306p. ISBN 0-06-052849-4 [ISBN 978-0-06-052849-2]. $24.95. F
Grace Jefferson and her husband left North Carolina and academia behind after Grace, an African American, was denied tenure at Duke. For the first time, Eddie pulls down a big salary as a corporate chemist, and Grace stays home with their two young daughters. Urging Grace to devote her energies to redecorating their new house in a wealthy Boston suburb, Eddie tries to hide his hopes for a baby boy after a broken condom makes pregnancy likely. Grace's own dismay at the prospect of a third child forces her to recognize that she feels trapped by marriage and motherhood. Knowing that her grandmother abandoned her child (Grace's mother), Grace wonders if she is capable of doing the same. McLarin's earlier novels (Taming It Down; Meeting of the Waters) drew on the author's journalistic background to portray the minefields of interracial affairs and work relationships among Philadelphia reporters. Here, she sets those issues aside for a personal, meditative look at attitudes toward motherhood in three generations of an African American family. Grace's struggles will resonate with women of all backgrounds. Recommended for general fiction collections, especially where Bebe Moore Campbell and Diane McKinney-Whetstone are popular.—Laurie A. Cavanaugh, Brockton P.L., MA
McRae, Donald. Every Second Counts: The Race To Transplant the First Human Heart. Putnam. 2006. c.368p. index. ISBN 0-399-15341-1. $25.95. MED
South African–born McRae has won two prestigious British awards for his books on boxing. Here, he turns to the similarly competitive world of surgery, writing about the events leading up to his countryman Christiaan Barnard's path-breaking 1967 heart transplant. With iron discipline, ruthless self-confidence, and reckless ambition, cardiac surgeons from the finest hospitals in South Africa, Europe, Russia, and across the United States had devoted their careers to claiming this holy grail of surgery. Every second counted, both for the single-minded surgeons striving for worldwide recognition and their patients facing imminent heart failure and certain death. McRae's fast-paced account skillfully contrasts the surgeons' fierce rivalry with the race between the United States and the former Soviet Union to put a man on the moon, while Dr. Barnard's fleeting moment of adulation (including a tryst with Gina Lollobrigida!) parallels South Africa's growing status as an international pariah for its brutal racial codes. Like G. Wayne Miller's King of Hearts, this is a gripping narrative of high-stakes medical research and the flawed human beings who advance its progress. Libraries interested in medical subjects will find it an excellent acquisition. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 2/1/06.]—Kathy Arsenault, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib.
Azzarello, Brian (text) & Marcelo Frusin (illus.). Loveless: A Kin of Homecoming. Vol. 1. Vertigo: DC Comics. 2006. 128p. ISBN 1-4012-1061-9. pap. $9.99. F
Azzarello's dark and violent story of a former Confederate soldier who comes home to try and set his life right has all of the trappings of both a social commentary and a classic superhero tale: Wes Cutter leaves for the Civil War and then returns home only to find that the Union army has claimed his land as federal property, his wife is gone, and he has become a hated man; a reputation that is not helped when he contemplates accepting an offer for a commission from a Federal official. While Azzarello's character development does leave something to be desired, and the narrative pacing is rushed, readers will find a distinctive examination of a much-studied period in American history and artwork that manages to capture the dichotomy of the American West's landscape: both beautiful and harsh. Concerned individuals should take note that Azzarello shows no shyness when it comes to bloodshed and profanity, and sex is prominently displayed, including female nudity and an act of rape that is not graphically depicted but still unsettling. More mature readers, however, will find that while the first volume may be thin, Loveless shows great promise for future installments.—M. Brandon Robbins, Wayne Cty. P.L., Goldsboro, NC
Satrapi, Marjane. Chicken with Plums. Pantheon. Oct. 2006. c.96p. ISBN 0-375-42415-6. $16.95. BIOG
Satrapi, of Persepolis fame, again weaves personal and Iranian history into a striking and slightly dark tale of her great-uncle Nasser Ali Khan. Set in 1958 Tehran, the story recounts how this famous tar-player (a Persian fretted six-string lute) has his heart broken, and decides simply to lay down and die. Over the eight days leading to his death, the reader glimpses his past, learns that his wife has broken his beloved tar, and discovers why its loss is so tragic he would choose death rather than live without it. We also meet Khan's family and friends, as the story moves back and forth in time. Satrapi's wonderful black-and-white illustrations complement the universal themes of love, loss, and grief. With some nudity, profanity, drug references, and adult themes of suicide and death, this fascinating, humorous, and, at times, sad novel is highly recommended for mature audiences. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/06.]—Melissa Aho, Metropolitan State Univ., St. Paul, MN
See the June 15 Xpress Reviews
