Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, May 21, 1995 TAG: 9505200025
SECTION: BOOK PAGE: F5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
By Donald Westlake. Mysterious Press. $21.95.
``Each ant emerged from the skull bearing an infinitesimal portion of brain.''
That's the first sentence of ``Kahawa,'' Donald Westlake's excellent 1981 novel, now republished in hardback. If there were ever a book that deserved a second life, this is it. ``Kahawa'' is an adventure-caper-comedy focused on Idi Amin's brutal tenure in Uganda. It's about the theft of a mile-long train filled with coffee beans. The plot is wildly complicated and told through a large cast of vivid characters and a rich mixture of adventure, sex and humor.
In many ways, this may be Westlake's best book; it's certainly his most ambitious. And though it was well-received by reviewers (including this one) upon its first publication, it has somehow never found the audience it deserves. Westlake comments on that side of the book's curious history in an illuminating and wickedly funny new introduction. The novel itself stands up well, too. It's not at all dated and, like any well-told yarn, is well worth another look.
--MIKE MAYO, Book page editor
Virgin of the Sun: A Historical Novel of the Inca Indians of Peru (1525-1533).
By Ruby D. Mitchell. Libra. $14.95.
Deftly melding fact and fiction, Ruby Mitchell makes the twilight years of the great Inca Empire come alive in her absorbing novel, ``Virgin of the Sun.'' She sets the tone in the first chapter. The most beloved ruler of the Incas, Huayna Capac, lies dying of plague at age 40. On his deathbed he tells Huascar, his legitimate heir, that it is his will that Atahuallpa (the ``beloved bastard''), be governor of the northern province whose capital is at Quito. His rationale is that Huascar will be unable to govern the entire empire from Cuzco. The distances are too great and so on.
This surprising pronouncement adds insult to injury. Huascar is bitterly aware that his father had never prepared him for his role as Sapa (all powerful) Inca, but had left him to be raised by priests in Cuzco, while his favorite, Atahuallpa, stayed with their father in Quito. This final insult is too much. Pay-back time evolves with shocking rapidity and vengeance. Huayna has unwittingly set in motion a chain of murderous intrigue and disaster that culminates in civil war. We see these events through the eyes of Golden Star, beautiful teen-aged daughter of Huascar. With her we become a camp follower in the army of her father as she tries to find and save her lover, Quilacu, a captain in the army marching against her father.
Mitchell knows her history, and she knows how to tell a good story, revealing intimate details not found in the history books. In vivid detail, she describes the ostentatious opulence of the Incan court, the cult of the dead, the sordid lives of the common people; and awe-inspiring masonry that survives to this day. The author does not reveal the outcome of the war, suggesting that a sequel may be in the works. If so, it would further increase our understanding of the tragic decline of the legendary Incan Empire.
--MARIE S. BEAN
Vital Dust: Life as a Cosmic Imperative.
By Christian de Duve. Basic Books. $25.
This book was written by a Nobel Laureate. Without the imprimatur of the Nobel Prize, it would be classified as pop science along with phrenology, astrology, and orgone therapy. The author builds a ``vital dust'' theory of life. Each fragment of his theory is based on real science, but the ``congruence'' (de Duve's term) of all these fragments to define the unified theory stretches belief. Genesis explains vital dust as convincingly.
--LARRY SHIELD
Home Song.
By LaVyrle Spencer. Putnam. $23.95.
Although LaVyrle Specner's newest novel centers on students, parents, teachers and administrators at a high school, this is a novel I'd rather +my+ principal never see. In addition to the rigors of the sports schedule, the duty of an English teacher at Hubert H. Humphrey High is to oversee play rehearsals until ten every night and attend ``conferences'' from nine in the morning until nine at night where ``all the teachers were stationed at tables set up around the perimeter of the gym.'' All before Halloween.
Actually, the novel focuses on family, love and forgiveness. At the beginning, Tom Gardner, the very well-liked principal, faces another busy but challenging school opening. Tom loves his work, dealing with the promises and problems of his students. Soon before school begins, however, Monica Arens, an engineer recently transferred from Texas, arrives to enroll her senior son, Kent, a promising athlete and proven scholar. Tom, a loving husband to Claire, an English teacher, and father of a boy and a girl, both enrolled at the school, routinely meets Kent and his mother. The routine ends abruptly, though, as Tom suspects the truth of Kent's parentage.
Everything, of course, becomes increasingly complicated for all concerned as the truth must ultimately emerge. The characters must face challenges and, in doing so, must come to terms with the truths of live and the power of forgiveness.
All before Halloween.
--HARRIET LITTLE
Marie S. Bean is a retired college chaplain.
Larry Shield trains dogs and horses in Franklin County.
Harriet Little teaches at James River high school.
by CNB