Longhorn Reviews

By: Shepard, Sam

Last Fall, Sam Shepard made a visit to the Fine Arts Library. The evening before he arrived, I thought I should read his Pulitzer Prize winning play, Buried Child. In addition, Beth Kerr, Theatre/Dance Librarian told me if you can only read one thing before Shepard arrives, read Buried Child. This play is about a dysfunctional family, set on a farm in the Midwest. Shepard does an excellent job describing the strained relations amongst the three generations of family members. The family secret, the mystery of the “Buried Child” is revealed in the third act of the play. Now I recommend it to patrons who look at the Shepard materials on display and want to read something by him.

Reviewer: Laura Schwartz

By: Wilson, Cintra

My friend Stephanie recommended this book to me. She picked it up in the Bay Area where the author is a local celebrity. Turns out Wilson is also a performing artist and arts critic, even more reason for me, as Fine Arts Librarian, to delve into this novel. It is another coming of age story, this one of Liza Normal (who is anything but normal). Her raison d’etre is to become a successful actress and/or singer. The book is the trials and tribulations of this quest. The characters that surround Liza include her loudmouth mother, reclusive brother, and a whole host of bizarre and endearing characters. Wilson’s book is hilarious. From the first few pages, until the very end, I was completely engaged and amused.

Reviewer: Laura Schwartz

By: Tanney, Katherine

I love fiction especially coming of age stories. I was having lunch with Nancy Schiesari, a Radio-Television-Film professor and lauded cinematographer earlier this Spring and she recommended Carousel of Progress to me. The story is about a teenage girl growing up in L.A. whose parents are getting divorced. There is so much truth and honesty in this tale, the characters are so real, and the dynamics of the relationships so complex. Tanney grew up in L.A. and now lives in Austin, just like me. Schiesari knows Tanney personally because
Tanney is also a cinematographer. The story was so familiar, it was hard to put down.

Reviewer: Laura Schwartz

By: Richard Russo

I am really recommending any of Richard Russo’s works. All of them are great and you can follow a rise in the quality of his writing as you read newer and newer works. The basic premise seems to be the same in each of his novels (at least the 4 of his 5 which I have read): they’re all set in a small town in the American Northeast and full of wacky characters — some in dire situations, some suffering for caring about those in dire situations, and some suffering at the hands of those in dire situations. Either way, the characters are what are great about Russo’s writing. He makes you believe that these unreal folk are real and he makes you suffer along with them, while at the same time you often want to give them a smack-in-the-head wake-up call. This title won Russo the Pulitzer Prize in fiction for 2002. Basically, it is a chilling commentary on Columbine, but the plot, as in his other works, is almost incidental to how the characters react to what is occurring. Russo is always funny and often at the same time heart-wrenching. His books are quick reads and all wonderfully realized.

Reviewer: Beth Kerr

By: Maile Meloy

In beautiful stark prose, Maile Meloy tells the story of the Santerre family, following the complex relationships among four generations from World War II and the family’s arrival in California to the present. As the story shifts from one generation to the next and one decade to the next, Meloy competently shifts the tone of the novel to match the tone of each era and provides insight into the effects of social change through time on the structure of the family. While it dabbles in the realm of literary soap opera and has its moment of melodrama, the characters and the family secrets they share provide an engaging and compelling story of heartbreak, Catholic guilt, and sexual temptation.

Reviewer: Meghan Sitar