“My art is made of recollection, and revision, and wishful thinking,” Peter admits. This is more a boast than a confession, since, as ringmaster of Peter’s ever-expanding universe, Kraft has continually scrubbed away the distinction between life and literature. Or, as Peter once put it, “I have now a fond affection for the idea that all the characters in books live in the same place,” a well-populated town where “I sometimes walk along a shady street on a summer morning and pause to watch the talking squirrels gather nuts in Emma Bovary’s from yard while Tom Sawyer paints her fence.” That sounds suspiciously post-modernist, but postmodernism was never so pleasurable. Charming but never sappy, droll but never cynical, Peter Leroy’s adventures constitute one of our wittiest and most acute portraits of America at mid-century. In the bargain they are the literary equivalent of Fred Astaire dancing: great art that looks like fun.
MALCOLM JONES Jr.
A family of women notorious for their witchcraft is at the book’s center: the Owens sisters and the nieces they’re raising, Sally and Gillian. The aunts are famous for dispensing potions to the lovelorn, but the old women are pariahs, too; so when Sally and Gillian grow up, they escape to what they hope will be normality. Sally becomes a perfect homemaker and Gillian a wild thing, but their inheritance can’t be dismissed. There’s magic throughout the book: “Always throw spilled salt over your left shoulder. Keep rosemary by your garden gate. . . Fall in love whenever you can.” But the real spell is the one cast by Hoffman’s splendid writing.
LAURA SHAPIRO
DAVID GATES
DAVID GATES
LAURA SHAPIRO
DANIEL MCGINN
DANIEL MCGINN
She exhorts them to find passion. And purpose. But she reduces the complexities of adulthood to a string of adolescent alliterations–the Tryout Twenties, Turbulent Thirties, Flourishing Forties, Flaming Fifties, Serene Sixties. It’s an elitist, Armaniized world that leaves little room for aging parents, screwed-up kids and financial woes. Consider Sheehy’s idea of a life-altering “Aha!” moment (she’s big on Aha! moments): “Late one night [former president Jimmy] Garter jackknifed upright in bed, and out came the words conflict resolution.” For Carter, it was inspiration to offer his mediation skills to the White House. For boomers, it should be a reminder that even middle age can be sold like a coonskin cap.
MICHELE INGRASSIA
As Maynard explains in the preface, she didn’t think up all the wisdom in this novel by herself. “Many of my ideas about love were formed as a result of listening to a range of songs, from Cole Porter to Lucinda Williams to The Beatles,” she writes. This inspired her to produce a compact disc, available by mail order, containing the music she found most influential. (The songs include Dolly Parton’s “Thinking Tonight of My Blue Eyes,” Joni Mitchell’s “Amelia” and more.) As she sees it, “introducing readers to the music I love will enhance the experience of my work.” At last! So if words fail you-Maynard’s, that is–just turn up the volume and feel better fast.
LAURA SHAPIRO
