Miracle Girl

Rating:
Summary: Miraculous fiction
Review: Perhaps the only subject less discussed than class in American society is faith, and Scribner takes it on here from all angles. Is Sue Phong, a deaf Vietnamese woman, really channeling the Virgin Mary to produce miracles in decrepit Hudson City, NY? Or is it a publicity stunt? If a stunt, whose? Hers? The Catholic archdiocese? (Attendance at mass is way down.) The Chamber of Commerce? (Those pilgrims gotta eat. And book hotel rooms.)

These cynical questions ricochet inside the mind of our hero, John Fitzgerald Kennedy Quinn, a thirty-something born on the day of the assassination (a fatal blow to faith itself) and currently employed as a real estate agent for the archdiocese. Quinn, as he's known, is embroiled in an early onset midlife crisis. He can't really figure out how he wound up where he is - or where he stands with his longtime live-in girlfriend, Rita. Does his problem truly reside - as Rita alleges - in the fact that he doesn't believe in anything?

The first page of this novel is perhaps the tautest piece of writing you'll read this year. The rest of it is by turns titillating (Scribner writes terrific sex), thought-provoking and hilarious.

Rating:
Summary: I found the story to be reasonbly interesting at first.
Review: The opening chapters held promise, but as the story went along I became particularly disappointed with the characters. The way that they interacted, the way that they developed, the way that the plot moved around them - it all left me cold. I expected a certain amount of "negativity" within the story, because it seemed appropriate. But the ending seemed to be not only negative, but also seemed to be not much of an ending. At least, it wasn't much of an ending for me. I was left feeling that nothing was really resolved.

Rating:
Summary: I found the story to be reasonbly interesting at first.
Review: The opening chapters held promise, but as the story went along I became particularly disappointed with the characters. The way that they interacted, the way that they developed, the way that the plot moved around them - it all left me cold. I expected a certain amount of "negativity" within the story, because it seemed appropriate. But the ending seemed to be not only negative, but also seemed to be not much of an ending. At least, it wasn't much of an ending for me. I was left feeling that nothing was really resolved.