by Adam Clymer
Picking up this dense portrait of the senior senator from Massachusetts, many readers would be tempted to turn straight to Chapter 12: Chappaquiddick. But that would be missing the point. Clymer, a veteran New York Times correspondent, does present a detailed account of the 1969 Martha's Vineyard accident that left Mary Jo Kopechne dead. And the book includes key lowlights such as Kennedy's expulsion from Harvard for cheating and the night in 1991 when he rousted two young nephews out of bed for a night of drinking that led to rape charges against one of them, William Kennedy Smith (who was later acquitted). What is remarkable is that despite these foibles and his family's tragedies, Kennedy has emerged as one of the era's most effective lawmakers, a champion of causes such as health care and civil rights. Though Clymer occasionally gets bogged down in minutiae, he nevertheless gives us a readable and worthy account of a flawed and fascinating politician. (Morrow, $27.50)
Bottom Line: Compelling bio of a complicated man
A Voyage Across America
by William Least Heat-Moon
No one loves to wander the United States quite like William Least Heat-Moon, author of the bestselling Blue Highways and PrairyErth. For his latest travelogue, he spent more than 10 years mapping out a 5,000-mile boat journey (with only two short portages) in his 22-foot C-Dory called Nikawa (Osage for river-horse). Heat-Moon's passion for the nation's geography, history and the preservation of its rivers is infectious—and lucky for us it is, because four months on the water can have its slow stretches, as does this book.
On the other hand, the river provides Nikawa's crew with terrifying storms, risky rapids and dismayingly polluted waters as well as magically preserved, remote byways that are little changed since Lewis and Clark passed along them. Despite some overly languid sections and occasionally stilted writing ("I much missed my great friend"), River-Horse is a deeply American story of adventure, exploration and river life. (Houghton Mifflin, $26)
Bottom Line: Worthy, watery sequel to Blue Highways
The Andrews Sisters Story
by John Sforza
For those too young to remember, LaVerne, Maxene and Patty Andrews were the Minneapolis-born trio of singing sisters who had 113 Top 30 records between 1938 and 1951. Of those, 46 reached the Top 10 and eight—including "Bei Mir Bist Du Schon," "Don't Fence Me In" and "Shoo Shoo Baby"—hit No. 1. Along with sometime collaborators Bing Crosby and Glenn Miller, the Andrew Sisters dominated pop music in the '40s, thriving on stage and radio as well as on records.
Sforza chronicles their professional career in great detail but also addresses the sisters' frequent personal feuds, though he paints them as much less virulent than they were rumored to be. The book's liveliest dish—if that's what you like—concerns the way in which Marty Melcher, the group's agent, dumped Patty and a year later married singer Doris Day, another client.
LaVerne died in 1967 (at 55), Maxene in 1995 (at 79). Patty is still alive at 81, but Sforza did not interview her and doesn't mention even trying to. So there is little new firsthand material to be gleaned here. The book is best read as a colorful and flattering (though not sycophantic) portrait of a vital part of American popular culture in the World "War II era. (University Press of Kentucky, $25)
Bottom Line: Engaging look at the ultimate sister act
by J.M. Coetzee
Passion and meaning have been leached from David Lurie's life. Twice divorced, the 52-year-old South African professor of communications slakes his desire with prostitutes and pliable coeds at Cape Technical University. When his latest dalliance is discovered, he loses his job, is shunned by friends and retreats to his daughter Lucy's hardscrabble farm in the remote Eastern Cape region. But Lurie has further to fall: One afternoon, in broad daylight, three thugs invade the house, beat and torture him, then brutally rape his daughter.
As in previous works, such as Waiting for the Barbarians, J.M. Coetzee doesn't flinch from the racial and moral complexities of contemporary South Africa. Lurie despairs when he finds that Lucy is pregnant. He wants her to abort the baby and leave the isolated farm where life for a white woman living alone has clearly become perilous. Disgrace explores his struggle to reform his life and find honor in a post-apartheid society amid violent change, where the codes of behavior for blacks and whites have turned topsy-turvy. Winner of the 1999 Booker Prize—Britain's premier fiction award—Disgrace is a gripping tale told with spare prose, steely intelligence and a remarkable degree of tenderness. (Viking, $23.95)
Bottom Line: Harsh and heartbreaking
by Jonathan Kellerman
Page-turner of the week
You might think that when a doctor at a maximum-security psychiatric facility is savagely slain, her notorious, psycho-killer patients would become prime suspects. But not so in the case of Monster victim Dr. Claire Argent: When she is found murdered and mutilated not far from her home, California state hospital administrators argue lamely that none of their inmates has recently been released. Which leaves Dr. Alex Delaware and his pal, LAPD Det. Milo Sturgis, with one of the most puzzling conundrums of their long crime-solving career.
Author Kellerman, like his sleuth Delaware a trained child psychologist, is in peak form as he vividly evokes the claustrophobic world of the asylum, a nightmarish limbo of the sort most of us prefer not to contemplate. He also subtly manages to raise questions about our treatment of the mentally ill along the way. But the author never allows these weightier issues to interfere with this surprising and complex story of festering evil—a tale that snakes its way to a stunningly dramatic conclusion. (Random House, $25.95)
Bottom Line: Masterly mystery
- Contributors:
- Thomas Fields-Meyer,
- Curtis Rist,
- Ralph Novak,
- Paula Chin,
- Pam Lambert.
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!
