BOOK REVIEW: The Passage

If Stephen King’s The Stand and Richard Matheson’s I Am Legend were to have a love child, it would be THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin. In a near future setting, The Passage tells of how the United States went from the world we know to a world of fear and darkness -- of a fate worse than death.

FBI agents Brad Wolgast and his partner have been collecting men from death rows in penitentiaries around the country. The men that they rescue have no families and no chance of ever being set free. All that the agents know is to take the men to a secret government location and to make sure that no trail is left behind. About the time that Wolgast is aware that witnesses are being killed to insure that there is no trail, he is asked to pick up a six-year old girl, Amy Harper, at a convent.

At the secret facility where he takes the child, he discovers that he may be considered a “ witness” by the people in charge. As he escapes with Amy, the men who have been used in the experiments also escape and within thirty-two minutes civilization changes into a land of horror.

Almost one-hundred years later, the people of the Colony are living behind tall walls believing that they may be the last people alive. Bright lights burn all night to help protect them from the enemy. The enemy, or “Smokes” as the people call them, only attack at night and have a strength and powers unknown by the humans.

One evening Amy appears at the gate and her appearance starts an other type of terror and an odyssey to take her and her companions back to the place that started the horror.

Author Justin Cronin has given us not only a suspenseful adventure, but an epic story of how man can endure through unimaginable danger. The story is so full of unexpected turns and suspense that it is hard not to tell too much in a review. I hope that I have whetted your imagination, but not ruined the suspense.

If you want to take a chance on a style that borders somewhere between science-fiction, horror, human drama and suspense---or if this is already your reading pleasure--Cronin is an author to watch for.

THEATRE REVIEW: A Delicate Balance

A Delicate Balance has just closed in the Studio Space above the State Theatre in State College. Directed by Ron Siebert, this is a production that proves that Edward Albee is one of America’s top playwrights.

Examining the delicate balance that goes into keeping relationships on an even plane, Albee and a very talented cast provide the audience with an enjoyable evening.

Cary Anne Spear and Lloyd Short play the couple, Agnes and Tobias. Their scenes together show the mild affection that has become routine in their marriage.  Ms. Spear has most of the longer speeches at the beginning of the play and she handles the beauty of Albee’s language with great skill. Her dialogue gives the audience a hint of the conflict that is to come. As Agnes holds the family together, Ms. Spear holds the play together.

Lloyd Short, as Tobias, seems at times too meek, too mild. I was not sure if it was the case of an actor not too sure of himself on stage or how the part was directed. Later in the big dramatic scene between Tobias and his best friend, Harry, Mr. Short shows his acting skills. I wish that I had seen some indication of that passion earlier.

Susanna Ritti has the fun of playing Claire, Agnes’s alcoholic sister. Ms. Ritti plays the part with all engines running. Never does she play her part as the laughable drunk. Her comments wisely point out the frailties of the human condition giving most of the comedy relief to the play.

The daughter, Julia, is played by Rhiannon McClintock. Her need for the safe haven of home is balanced with an ambiguous feeling toward her parents. Ms. McClintock does most of her early scenes with a face that shows her bitterness and unhappiness. Her big scene in the second act shows what a talent this woman is.

Margaret Higgins and Tom McClary are the best friends, Edna and Harry who seem to have moved in to Julia’s room to stay. Again their early scenes do not completely prepare the audience for their outbursts later on.

I like Albee. He was awarded a Pulitzer Prize for A Delicate Balance, but it is probably Whose Afraid of Virginia Wolf that has become better known play. His use of language is almost Shakespearian and his understanding of the undercurrents of relationships may be ugly at times, but very real.

I can not finish this review without mentioning The Next Stage, a non-profit corporation that produces plays that need to be done. The production company’s history includes some of America’s greatest playwrights and shows that may not be the commercial success of the big musicals, but classics for the true theatre lover.

This was my first visit to see one of their productions and I loved it. Located above the main stage at the State Theatre on College Avenue in State College, the venue is small and intimate. The atmosphere was of being an invited guest and witnessing true drama in a private home.

This terrific production showed why Edward Albee is worthy of his acclaim and that we are a valley that can be happy about our theatre community.

BOOK REVIEW: You Have The Right To Remain Silent

Barbara Paul is a delightful mystery writer and the person who gave me a copy of one of her books will never be allowed to leave my circle of friends.

YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT is not the first in the series about Sergeant Marian Larch, but it is the first that I read.  It did a good job of introducing Sergeant Larch and her co-workers.

Four corpses have been found, hand-cuffed together, in Manhattan. Each man is well-dressed, white-collar, unidentified, and shot through the right eye. Marian recognizes the murders as a warning, but to whom and about what? It turns out that all four men had worked for Universal Laser Technologies and were heavily into government contract work.

While working on this increasingly dangerous assignment, Marian is dealing with her personal life and the murder of a mother of three young children. Her present boyfriend is obnoxious and on his way out. Marian, and the reader, have reason to worry that the new men in her life may be more involved with the four dead men recently found in Manhattan. Marian's use of a woman from the young mother's case to help catch the guilty person in the Universal Laser case is this side of brilliant.

As in any series from this genre, each book adds to the development of the regular characters. The next book I read from this series was Fare Play. I am very glad I didn't read this first, because Marian’s life had taken a turn that might have ruined the suspense of YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO REMAIN SILENT. It was another lesson to read any series in order.

I will be reading more Marian (now Lieutenant) Larch stories. If police detectives are on your list of must read mysteries, this is a series that you will enjoy.

BOOK REVIEW: Peace Like A River

PEACE LIKE A RIVER, by Leif Enger, is proof that good literature is still being written.

For all of his eleven years, Reuben Land has heard the story of how his father, Jeremiah, had saved him when he was born. He has no doubt that his father can do miracles; he has seen them happen. His older brother, Davy, and younger sister, Swede, do not completely agree. They do know that they have been raised by a loving and wise father.

Jeremiah works as a janitor at the local school and when he stops some bullies from viciously attacking a female friend of Davy’s, he puts the rest of his family at risk. Davy ends up shooting the young thugs when they break into his home one night and stands to be committed for murder. Davy escapes from jail before Reuben and Swede can break him out. What follows is a journey across country, a story of family, good vs. evil, and some surprising miracles.

The adult Reuben narrates the family’s adventures and we watch him grow as well as meet the people who come and go in his life. Because of Reuben’s age the characters are described from his point of view. As most younger brothers would, he looks up to his older brother . Davy is an expert hunter and everything a younger brother would want to be.

Swede is the kid sister who needs to be protected. She is bright and a big aficionado of the Old West. The poetry that she writes features Sunny Sundown, a cowboy always in search for justice and at times follows Davy‘s adventure. She quickly became my favorite character. (Any one who can make a reference to “ Natty Bumpo” is all right in my mind.)

All of the characters are well done. Because of Reuben’s youth, he can recognize the woman Rebecca’s goodness when she comes to their aid. He knows that she could be “home“. On the other hand, Jape, the man where Davy is hiding, is evil, but Rueben and the reader are not sure why. Rueben has had experience with goodness, not with evil.

This book is well worth reading. It has touches of Salinger’s Catcher In The Rye, Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, and even McCourt’s Angela’s Ashes. The title is perfect. Not only is there a reason in the story for Peace and River to be mentioned, but that was the feeling that reading the story gave to me. It is a story of the miracle of love with a rich mixture of adventure and healing. I may have to put it on my Best of the Year List.

BOOK REVIEW: Slapstick

It is hard to believe that I went through my Kurt Vonnegut period without reading SLAPSTICK. Fortunately, I found out this month that this is an author who did not lose his charm.

We enter the world of Wilbur Daffodil Swain, King of Manhattan, landlord and tenant of the vacant Empire State Building, genius idiot, pediatrician, twin, and the former tallest President of the United States, on his 100th birthday. It is important to know all of these things about Wilbur because they are important to the tale that he is about to tell us.

He and his twin sister, Eliza Mellon Swain, were born and christened in the hospital, not with loving family and friends surrounding the happy new parents. Because, the parents were embarrassed by how ugly the twins were, they had them rushed to a mansion in New York to be cared for by a very well paid staff.

Wilbur and Eliza learned very early in life that the staff expected the two of them to be as stupid as they were ugly. Thus these two geniuses learned to act the part of drooling idiots and to mask the fact that their two brains worked together to solve very complicated puzzles. By the time their talents are discovered, the world is still not ready for them and their parents are embarrassed by their weird behavior.

The world has changed by the time Wilbur reaches his 100th birthday. Eliza has died while helping to set up a colony on the moon and Wilbur has led a very full life that included being President--for a short period. He now lives in an almost deserted Manhattan writing his memoirs.

Vonnegut needs no explanation if you also are of an age to have considered him cool a few years back. He, himself, was bigger than life and had become a delightful curmudgeon in his later years. I heard him interviewed once and he seemed to be truly upset with the tobacco industry. He had been smoking for years and it did not seem to be killing him. He blamed the cigarette companies that he was still alive.

One reviewer referred to his plots as “ a saucy spaghetti of ideas”. That seems to fit when you think of how hard it is to track one strand of spaghetti through the bowl.

SLAPSTICK may not be the best of Vonnegut. That honor belongs to Slaughterhouse-Five. Still, it is an exercise in inventive writing and a peek into one of the most creative authors of our time.