Though scores of books have come out to help women weather the crises of menopause, men have been pretty much left on their own. So says Gail Sheehy, author of 1976's Passages, who comes to the rescue with exemplary bits of wisdom to help men deal with everything from balding to sexual dysfunction to the disorienting realities of retirement. Some may find her analyses and conclusions a little simplistic ("The fear of losing hair is the fear of losing control"). But her book will encourage and comfort many men, who—reluctant to confide in their friends or even in their wives—had imagined they were the only ones disheartened and confused by the thorny, arduous path from one stage of life to another. (Random House, $24)
Bottom Line: A knowledgeable helping hand for middle-aged guys
by Robert Stone
Psychologist Pinchas Obermann, one of Damascus Gate's many intriguing voices, says that present-day Jerusalem offers three levels of truth: reality, psychology and mystery. In this, his sixth novel, Stone (Outer-bridge Reach, Dog Soldiers) explores the most compelling mystery of all: the nature of faith at the explosive crossroads where Judaism, Christianity and Islam converge—and conflict. In a hallucinatory prose as flickering and luminescent as a prayer candle, Stone catches the contemporary in an Old Quarter nightclub, where "Viking quasi-maidens, Ethiopians with Malcolm X hats, Romanian pickpockets and American Juniors Abroad" listen to reggae music. And he doesn't flinch from the hard realities of the Mideast.
The novelist's vision focuses not only on the tribulations of Jewish settlers but on what Israeli soldiers have done to the Palestinians of Gaza and on the explosive horrors a few fundamentalist Christians have in mind in their plot to rebuild the original Temple of Jerusalem.
Stone's characters—including an Israeli heroin addict, an American journalist and an ex-Communist United Nations relief worker—all become inexorably tangled in the obsessive journey of Adam De Kuff, a manic-depressive from New Orleans who believes he is the Messiah. Sardonic and often disturbing, Damascus Gate not only illuminates the torn landscape of belief but also casts a painful and rewarding light into the dark temple of the human heart. (Houghton Mifflin, $26)
Bottom Line: Apocalyptic tour de force
by Jeff Greenwald
Most TV and movie watchers on this ball of dust already know that Star Trek is an entertainment phenomenon. Jeff Greenwald, a Trekker himself, goes a step further. He argues that the combination of heroic characters, love-your-enemies philosophy and nonthreatening technology constitutes a modern global myth. That is to say, we are all viewing the world to some extent through Trek-tinted lenses.
To prove his thesis, Greenwald globe-trots to places like a Trek-themed bar in England and a Kling-on festival in Germany and talks to scores of people whose outlooks have been shaped by the show's optimistic vision of the future. But his anecdotal evidence demonstrates only that Star Trek's popular influence is ubiquitous, not that it has seismically altered our view of the cosmos. Indeed, Greenwald often comes up dry—as in an interview with Kurt Vonnegut, who shows precious little interest in the subject.
For the record, there are no Star Trek conventions in India. But it's nice to know that even the Dalai Lama has seen the show, and he vividly recalls Mr. Spock—"the man with the big ears." (Viking, $23.95)
Bottom Line: Boldly goes where too many have gone before
by Danielle Steel
No doubt Steel's intentions were good in using her clout as a mega-selling novelist to shed light on the horrors of child abuse. And the scenes in Road where young Gabriella Harrison is beaten up by her socialite mother are so harrowing that they will likely provoke serious thought among Steel's readers. Yet there's something vaguely unsavory about a novel that uses that haunting beginning as simply the first in a series of trials poor Gabbie must endure before she is transformed into one of Steel's typical romantic heroines. By the time the character has been tossed by her mother into a convent, seduced, victimized by a con artist and more, it will be hard for most readers not to feel manipulated by all the melodrama. (Delacorte, $25.95)
Bottom Line: Decent start turns into a romantic muddle
>Israel celebrates its 50th birthday on May 14. Here are some notable books marking the occasion.
ISRAEL: A HISTORY Martin Gilbert Churchill's biographer trains his scholarly eye on 50 years of nationhood that have fulfilled a 2000-year-old dream. (Morrow, $30)
SOLDIER OF PEACE: THE LIFE OF YITZHAK RABIN Dan Kurzman The late Nobel Prize-winning prime minister came to the fore as a warrior but lost his life as a peacemaker. (HarperCollins, $30)
ISRAEL: A PHOTOBIOGRAPHY Micha Bar-Am A sensitive visual record by the renowned Magnum photographer. (Simon & Schuster, $40)
>Paradise
Toni Morrison's vocal repertoire ranges from the hypnotically lyrical to the provocatively robust—not unlike many of the passages in her saga of a black enclave in Oklahoma. (Random House, $25.95)
God Is My Broker This hilarious spoof on spiritual and financial gurus (and venal monks) by Christopher Buckley and John Tierney—reinforced by the verve of actor Mark Linn-Baker's reading—proves that satire can be an occasion of grace. (Bantam Doubleday Dell, $23.95)
Oscar and Lucinda Ralph Fiennes's reading, though lucid and intelligent, is too detached to bring to life Peter Carey's unforgettable tale of two eccentrics in 19th-century Australia. (Random House, $24)
Booth David Robertson's novel, which examines the Lincoln assassination through the eyes of an alleged coconspirator, is most memorable for the minutiae of life in 1860s Washington, related by Edward Herrmann with an appropriately courtly zest. (BDD, $23.95)
- Contributors:
- Francine Prose,
- J.D. Reed,
- Thomas Vinciguerra,
- Cynthia Sanz,
- Ben Harte.
Saved by the Bell Reunion
The hookups, the meltdowns, the memoires
The case reveals what was really going on what they think of each other now!
