Purple Mountain Press (2004) 181 Pages - ISBN 1-930098-57-X
The Authors Deserve Chapters of Their Own, December 28, 2006
review by Art Tirrell, author of "The Secret Ever Keeps" April 2007 from Kunati Books
This is a well-edited, nicely designed and printed paperback. I purchased as part of an effort to become familiar with the work of Upstate New York authors. I had no idea how fortunate I was about to become.
Upon beginning the read, my interest level wasn't very high. The stories didn't seem all that remarkable. Then, fifty pages or so in, they suddenly did -because by then I'd realized that the women whose stories this volume tells are exactly, precisely the kind of women I find most admirable. Before, names like Kate Field, Inez Milholland, Jeanne Robert Foster, and especially Orra Phelps meant nothing to me. Let me tell you, these are magnificant women. And the list grows; Grace Hudowalski, Miriam Kashima, Anne LaBastille and more. I am so thankful for this book, but it's two chapters too short. The authors' own stories are missing. I have a hunch they belong here too.
Art Tirrell, author of "The Secret Ever keeps", 978-1-60164-004-8, from Kunati Books April 2007.
5/5 Stars - MUST READ
For One More Day by Mitch Albom
Reviewed by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song
An emotional tribute to family bonds, love and forgiveness
I was totally absorbed by For One More Day by Mitch Albom, and taken back to a time when I, too, was young and everything seemed innocent, confusing and not always explainable. I highly recommend this read, but be prepared―you’ll need a box of Kleenex at your side!
Charles ‘Chick’ Benetto has reached the end of his rope, so to speak. He is divorced and has a daughter who won’t invite him to her wedding, a father who walked out on the family years ago and a mother who is dead. Chick is a washout as a baseball player and finds solace in one thing―alcohol.
Feeling that he has nothing left to live for, nothing to hold onto, he plots his suicide and returns to his family home where he finds it not as empty as it should be. Through his mother’s spirit, Chick learns that things weren’t always as they seemed. He asks questions about his life, about his father, and is surprised by some of the answers. Some of the conversations are bittersweet and sad, while others will make you laugh.
A cross between A Christmas Carol and Ghost, this is a beautifully wrought story that delves into the human psyche and into our yearning to go back and change things…if we had just one more day. For everyone who always wanted to go back in time, take back nasty words or find a sense of understanding, For One More Day is an emotional tribute to family bonds, love and forgiveness. One of Mitch Albom’s finest works! This novel is that one last chance to see things as they were…and to make things right. Don’t we all wish we had that?
Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of The River, Divine Intervention and Whale Song (ISBN: 978-1-60164-007-9 available April 2007 from Kunati Books)
]]>Day into Night by Dave Hugelschaffer
Reviewed by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song:
When two separate investigations―a forest fire on the slopes of the Caribou mountain range and an ecoterrorist bombing in the Rocky Mountains―leave authorities stumped, Porter Cassel is called to the job as an arson investigator. Sifting through the debris and ashes, he unwittingly compromises evidence of a serial arsonist’s delay mechanism at the arson crime scene, then stumbles upon something more hideous at the bombing scene―blackened human remains.
For Cassel, the bombing instantly becomes personal. Haunted by the murder of his fiancée Nina Pirelli―a murder that bears a startling similarity to the current bombing case―Cassel launches his own unofficial investigation to discover the identity of the ecoterrorist, who calls himself the Lorax, while investigating an apparently unrelated string of serial arsons.
Caught between duty and desire, he treads on the toes of other officials on the case, particularly the Mounties, and suddenly finds himself framed for murder. There is only one way to prove his innocence, and that’s to find the persons responsible.
Fast-paced and filled with enough turbo-charged action to keep you reading to the very last page, Day Into Night is a smokin’ read. And Dave Hugelschaffer, who writes with a unique style and voice, is an author to watch for.
~Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song, The River and Divine Intervention
]]>This is my review of a novel by the talented Lisa See, a novel of love, commitment and lifelong friendship...
***** 5 Stars! A Powerfully Emotional Story of Friendship and Betrayal
Lisa See’s Snow Flower and the Secret Fan is a deeply personal look into the lifelong friendship of two nineteenth-century Chinese women--a friendship that began when they were paired together as laotongs or ‘old sames’, what we might refer to as ‘soul sisters’. Lily and Snow Flower send messages back and forth, written in the secret women’s language of nu shu. Hidden in the folds of a fan or on delicate handkerchiefs, the messages linked these two women together in a friendship that was more powerful than a marriage.
Through the decades, Lily, the narrator, suffers many hardships and challenges. At the early age of seven, she and her laotong endure the common practice of footbinding. The author paints a vivid picture of this ancient torture, used to determine a girl’s worth--especially regarding marriage. Lily and Snow Flower are bound by ritual and by their growing friendship and reliance on one another. And then something happens that rips at the core of their friendship.
Betrayal, misunderstandings and anger lead to hurt feelings and separation. Forgiveness is needed. But can these women learn to forgive and let go of old pain? Or will they let their lifelong friendship die?
This wonderful, loving and tragic story of friendship and betrayal will teach the reader much about Chinese traditions. The stunning description of the lands, the sights and smells, paints vivid images upon the reader’s mind. But it is the loving friendship of Lily and Snow Flower that will grip your heart and fill it with yearning to have a laotong of your own. What a powerful and emotional story!
~ Reviewed by Cheryl Kaye Tardif, author of Whale Song (ISBN: 978-1-60164-007-9 available April 2007 from Kunati Books )
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A writer friend turned me on to Daniel Silva's work. At
first I thought she was merely captivated by Silva's author
photo on the back of the book, but it turns out that this
is a perfectly engaging page-turner of an espionage novel
with a twist.
The assumption is that the Vatican's Secretary of State is
trying to stop the revelation of the Catholic Church's
complicity in the Nazi extermination of the Jews. The attempt
to squelch information before the Pope can reveal it includes
a willingness to assassinate historians working on the matter
and even to kill the Pope himself.
In a wonderful flight of imagination, what stands between the
Holy Father and death at the hands of his own security forces
is an Israeli secret agent who is in Italy as a restorer of
a Bellini. (the painter, not the drink)
The action, once set in motion is complex, throat-tightening
stuff and the ending is as good a piece of theatre as any I've
read in a while.
What is absolutely chilling about this book is how much of the
Vatican's complicity in genocide is still being denied and actively
covered-up. I won't spoil the three page Author's Note that
ends this juicy thriller.
-
-Lynn Hoffman, author of THE NEW SHORT COURSE IN WINE and
the forthcoming novel bang BANG from Kunati Books.ISBN 9781601640005
Nothing this good. Before, or since.
Review by Art Tirrell
From the cover to the final page, not an iota of color exists within Buffalo Soldiers. Anyone who’s lived in an army barrack during peacetime knows the direction race relations within the ranks have taken. O’Connor’s chilling story leaves no doubt; the situation is worse than anyone imagined.
Free fall. That’s where Spec-4 Ray Elwood is headed, and in his less and less frequent MPC’s (moments of perfect clarity) he knows it. The rest of the time, he’s taking steps to get his stake and get out before the inevitable collision with the ground. He leads a sordid life, using people, dealing hard drugs on the side, flirting with heroin addiction. Yet there is something in him, some remnant of decency, the idea that he could easily change and turn himself around – and when he meets the daughter of his most dangerous enemy and they begin a relationship, we cross our fingers and hope he makes it through.
Comparisons to Joseph Heller’s classic World War II novel Catch-22 are inevitable, but there really can be no comparison. O’Connor’s standoffish second person narrative attempts to hold you at arm’s length, but his passages slash away with such cutting, acidic wit, the story gets in close anyway. Beside the peacetime lowlifes of Buffalo Soldiers, Joseph Heller’s characters were mere babes-in-arms. In Catch-22, you never quite had to take things seriously. With O’Connor, it’s impossible not to, and thus Buffalo Soldiers is ultimately more meaningful. I never thought I’d say this, but Joseph Heller, who I’ve long revered, no longer stands alone at the top.
Art Tirrell – author of The Secret Ever Keeps ISBN 978-1-60164-004-8 Mar 2007 Kunati Books