By Mitch Albom
Fans of Albom's 1997 megahit memoir Tuesdays with Morrie will likely be delighted with this equally slender novel. Simple and intimate, it's sprinkled with the sort of well-worn (at times nearly worn-out) aphorisms that helped to keep Morrie on the bestseller lists for more than three years. "There are no random acts," Albom writes in Heaven. "We are all connected."
Albom is a cup-half-full kind of guy, and the vehicle for his latest message is another elderly male, Eddie, an 83-year-old amusement-park maintenance man. The twist here is that Eddie dies early in the story. Heaven awaits.
The reader learns important, if less than original, lessons along with Eddie. The most notable: We can't hope to understand our lives until they're over, and even the seemingly most mundane events have a purpose. Eddie's life was neither exceptional nor colorful, but as Albom shows (in prose so deft you almost forget you're being manipulated), he influenced more people than he could have imagined. It's an old story with as much heft as a fluffy cloud, but there's comfort in Albom's unwavering conviction that our lives have meaning even after we're gone.
NOVEL
By Edward P. Jones
CRITIC'S CHOICE
The great evil of slavery came cloaked in many guises. This breathtaking debut novel shines a light on blacks who owned slaves.
African-American Henry Townsend, one of the book's central characters, is derived from historical figures. Born into bondage in antebellum Virginia, he gains his freedom only to become a most willing slave owner himself. From Townsend's small plantation and its row of slave cabins, Jones (who wrote the National Book Award-nominated story collection Lost in the City) brilliantly enlarges his story to include everyone (black and white, owner and slave) within the boundaries of the mythical Manchester County. All are differently crippled by the madness inflicted by slavery in their world. Though the large cast and multiple story lines require patience, you will be rewarded many times over by Jones's masterful ability to convey even the most despicable aspects of the nation's history with humanity and poetic language. This disturbing, magical novel will touch you in a profound way.
NOVEL
By Steven Bochco
If anybody can accurately portray the snakepit disguised as a country club that is Hollywood, it is Steven Bochco, the co-creator of L.A. Law and NYPD Blue. His first novel, a murder mystery, has the same dark humor and cynical insider's take as the fiction of Elmore Leonard.
A screenwriter with a penchant for binge drinking and messing up his marriage witnesses the kinky murder of a prodigious Latin lover. The writer knows who did it, but instead of reporting the crime, he turns it into his next can't-miss screenplay. One hitch: The detective assigned to the case has sniffed out the scribe, and he wants a piece of the action. The dirty cop works the angles with the skill of Minnesota Fats.
Bochco succeeds in creating characters with emotional depth (a real feat, given that he is dealing with Hollywood) in this breezy read. Told from the perspective of a wisecracking talent agent, Death by Hollywood is a potboiler overflowing with sex-crazed bimbos, morally bankrupt movie producers and hustlers on the make. By turns hilarious (an agent who is offered sex by an ambitious starlet retorts, "That's fine for you, but what's in it for me?") and philosophical ("My guess is that secrets and their attendant shame tend to determine the basic formation of our character"), this is a morality tale that doesn't stoop to preach.
MYSTERY
Rachel Greenwald, 39, author of Find a Husband After 35 Using What I Learned at Harvard Business School: A Simple 15-Step Action Program (recently optioned by Paramount Pictures) has taught thousands of mature women how to meet Mr. Right. Some tips:
CAST A WIDER NET "If a 40-year-old woman says 'All the men my age are with younger women,' I say 'Well, who thinks you're young?' Cast a wider net."
IGNORE SEX AND THE CITY "They're dating who-ever crosses their path. You shouldn't spend more than six months with a guy if you don't think you're going to have a future together."
ASK EXES WHAT THEY THOUGHT OF YOU "It's the most dreaded step. Identify five or six men you have liked. Call them and ask for feedback. It sounds harsh, but what you usually get are a few really good points of view."
MAKE A PLAN "There's this notion that love should happen naturally, not strategically. After 35, if you want to believe in fairy tales, you're going to be single for a longtime. Fate is not going to knock on your door."
TELL FRIENDS YOU WANT TO BE MARRIED "This helps attract the most men for maximum choice. But don't necessarily say it to the man. It would scare him away. It may feel uncomfortable, but I think there's a supportive community for women over 35."
ACTIVELY NETWORK "I was actually 28 when I got married, but I was precocious. I threw an event designed to meet men. I went through my address book. One contact was an ex-boyfriend's friend. He ended up bringing his friend to my party. That was my husband."
- Contributors:
- Debby Waldman,
- Champ Clark,
- Peter Hyman.
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!
