Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, October 2, 1994 TAG: 9410040006
SECTION: HORIZON PAGE: G6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
By John Peyton. McDonald & Woodward. $9.95 (paper).
Subtitled "Bright Tree of Life and Legend", this 73-page paperback details for the reader more natural history, more supernatural history, more quoted verse and prose, and more nicely executed black and white drawings about the tree commonly known as the paper birch than one could possibly believe interesting. Surprise, surprise, the book holds the reader's interest, and causes this reviewer to wonder how Peyton knew that 73 pages are exactly enough to cover the subject.
- LARRY SHIELD
North of Montana.
By April Smith. Knopf. $23.
April Smith has written for TV. Her skills at characterization and dialogue shine in "North of Montana," her first novel. The title refers to the posh Los Angeles area where a successful young doctor lives. He has been accused of hooking an aging movie queen on drugs, and Ana Grey, an ambitious new FBI agent, has been assigned to the case. In some ways, the novel is reminiscent of the film "Chinatown." Like the movie, it weaves through the entire socio-economic profile of Los Angeles. And Ana, as protagonist, learns as much shocking truth about herself as she does about the underside of life in and out of the FBI office.
"North of Montana" is attracting a lot of attention for a first novel, in part because it's a natural for the screen, but it's also a good book.
- JUDY KWELLER
Chaos and Disorder.
By Stephen R. Donaldson. Bantam. $22.95.
It is tempting to rate this space adventure of a far future as a good read. The characters are engaging, the dialogue interesting, the action riveting when it comes. The only problem for this reviewer was that, for more than half the 600-plus page novel, it was devilishly hard to figure out what was going on.
That is because this is the fourth in a five-book series. If I had read "The Real Story," "Forbidden Knowledge" and "A Dark and Hungry God Arises," I would certainly have had a better idea of why a government ship was chasing another interstellar craft filled with argumentative fugitives from a planet that had apparently been destroyed in the previous volume.
Donaldson uses all the extra space that he can devote to his characters to give them depth. It is genuinely hard to know who to root for in the conflicts between and within the various ships, with much of the killing and carnage coming from a lack of communication between the characters themselves.
Now, if the communication between author and reader was only better ...
- PAUL DELLINGER
Opal on Dry Ground.
By Sandra Scofield. Villard Books. $20.
People who experience the empty-nest syndrome should consider themselves lucky. In Sandra Scofield's latest novel, she chronicles the parade of daughters and grandchildren who return to live "temporarily" with Opal Duffy and her new husband, Russell. Russell's four-bedroom house in West Texas resembles a hotel more than a home.
With compassion and wry humor, Scofield depicts the actions and interactions of the various family members and the effect of each upon Opal, a kind of Earth Mother. Despite grieving about her own mother's death, suffering from problems caused by her being overweight and working full time, she pampers everyone except Russell.
Scofield's gift lies in creating scenes with such verisimilitude that we too react emotionally, torn as in real life by conflicting sympathies. The Christmas she describes must be the worst ever. Tension mounts, children run riot, and Opal ends her day by throwing away the asparagus she had made for hors d'oeuvres but that no one had eaten. This incident alone is worth the price of the book which contains a great deal of wisdom as well. I felt like cheering at the surprising way in which Opal finally lands on dry ground, taking the long-neglected Russell with her.
- LYNN ECKMAN
Cover Story.
By Robert Cullen. Atheneum. $20.
For a scary contemporary novel about crazy Arabs trying to buy surplus nuclear devices from the Russians, this book makes a lot of sense about journalism.
Colin Burke, the hero of an earlier Cullen novel, is now in Moscow as bureau chief for an American news magazine. There's a peace talk going on, and a beautiful but murderous female Israeli agent who wants to use Burke to plant disinformation - or is it the real story?
There's a place or two where both Burke - and the reader - have to suspend common sense to keep the story going. Still, the thriller aspects are very well done. It makes a good read and it'd make a good movie. The dilemma Burke faces, however, is one that goes back much further than nuclear weapons, and probably will last just as long. And that question is when should a paper withhold the truth. As Burke points out to his critics, that great gray morning serving of oatmeal, The New York Times, was widely praised 30-odd years ago because it didn't print the story of the coming U.S.-backed invasion of Cuba. The result was the Bay of Pigs.
Would things have been any worse then, Burke asks, had the Times done its job and reported the story in advance? Probably not. "Cover Story" is thus not just a novel for those who read, but for those who write as well.
- ROBERT HILLDRUP
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
Judy Kweller is vice president of an advertising company.
Paul Dellinger reports on Southwest Virginia from Pulaski.
Lynn Eckman teaches at Roanoke College.
Robert Hilldrup is a Richmond writer and former newspaperman.
by CNB