Chanticleer Book Reviews

Author: yorker-keith

AWAKENING of the SUMMER by Yorker Keith – Contemporary, Literary, Romantic
When the stress of Manhattan Wall Street builds, James Hensley retreats to the solace of the wood at Oberon Woods, New Hampshire for a two-week respite. He’s hoping to shake off the responsibilities of his job as a financial market forecaster and find some peace and quiet indulging his private passion for painting. The rat race of the city has been replaced with fresh air, pastoral scenery, and inspiration. As he works to bring the setting to life on the canvas, his co-worker’s teasing words ring in his ears – something about having a summer romance amidst the beauty of woods and water. He shuts out that thought and continues with his paints.

As if on cue, the Burnett sisters arrive and James’ plans for an uneventful sojourn in the country take a turn. The older sister, Sophie, is a brunette beauty, sensitive, quiet, and a reader and writer of poetry. She often carries an anthology of Emily Dickinson’s poetry with her.

In contrast, younger sister Kelly is a vivacious blond, chatty and flirtatious, the yang to her sister’s yin. The sisters are well-educated and affluent, living in their parents’ co-op on Park Avenue. Sophie works as the editor of a law review journal and Kelly does secretarial work at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Neither job pays well, but that’s of little consequence because there’s plenty of family money.

Of course, James can’t help but notice the sisters – and he soon learns they have boyfriends. Sophie is dating a Harvard Law School grad who works in mergers and acquisitions, and Kelly is dating a wealthy socialite boy who loves to party. So much for a summer romance.

Looks can be deceiving, though, and soon it becomes clear that the sisters’ romantic entanglements are far from perfect. Before his two-week vacation is finished, James will be attracted to both sisters. He paints them, and by doing so discovers the truth about himself.

This is a very romantic, seductively charming novel that celebrates nature and affirms the therapeutic value of nature. Here, author Yorker Keith gifts us with alluring, enchanting prose. We inhale crisp mountain air and easily envision Keith’s Arcadian wonderland. The novel includes several poems of Emily Dickinson’s as well as Sophie’s original poetry. The selections are perfect prose accompaniments for romance blooming in a resplendent countryside. Keith, in many ways, has “painted” this novel; it remains in the reader’s mind as a series of scenes rendered with the patient and astute eye of an artist.

“One man escapes to the quiet of the Oberon Woods only to be seduced by two young women of exceptional quality; as he paints each stunning beauty, he discovers more about himself and learns to trust his heart in Yorker Keith’s latest literary romantic novel.” – Chanticleer Reviews

“Seductively charming and romantic literary novel set in an Arcadian wonderland.” – Chanticleer Reviews
- Writing: Excellent
- Sex: Love-making scenes, nothing graphic
- Violence: One scene involves gun violence
- Narration: Third Person
- Tense: Past
- Mood: Romantic
April 26, 2018
The Other La Bohème by Yorker Keith – Contemporary, Literary, Opera

Life is as complicated as an opera performance in Yorker Keith’s new literary work, The Other La Bohème. The setting is modern-day Manhattan, complete with a café that showcases singing wait staff and doubles as an art gallery, studio apartments full of painters and poets, and surprise performances are sung in Italian.

The Dolci Quattro, a group of four friends intent on making it in the challenging world of professional opera, is determined to stage a different version of this well-known work, doing everything they can to support each other when motivation is hardest to find. Luckily for them, wealthy patrons and loving family are always closer than they imagine.

Keith takes his novel into the realm of opera itself in many ways. The most obvious how the book is formatted – and the reader will notice this quickly, with each chapter heading listed as a “scene” and the book itself divided into “Acts.” And like any good opening scene, we meet the major characters immediately.

Four singers have been friends since college days and have dubbed themselves The Dolci Quattro, the sweet four. It’s through their singing, often in Italian and always translated, that readers who have no familiarity with this art form will be able to see its enduring legacy and relevance to modern life. Whatever personal situation arises, at least one of the four has an aria to help express the emotion.

By Keith using this technique opera, itself, takes center stage. Dialogue often swirls around what it means to sing or be a singer, becoming technical at times, yet exploring the emotional and physical demands of the profession, while descriptive passages can encompass many of the main characters at once, mimicking the most enlightening program notes.

Similarly, the main story line of The Dolci Quattro’s attempt to successfully stage a lesser version of the most famous opera performed in America, Puccini’s La Bohème, by performing the work of the same name composed by the lesser known Leoncavallo, echoes their frustrations as individual vocal artists. They are starting from near obscurity, each working in poverty–what was once referred to as Bohemia– but with passionate and undeniable talent.

Their gamble of performing a nearly unknown variation of the opera mirrors the often-difficult choices and explanations each character faces about their futures and their professional careers. Like many an opera production as well, the reader is asked to accept life for the Dolci Quattro in all of its most broad and painted strokes.

Tragedies are short-lived, triumphs universal, offering us all a glimpse into the unique world of lead singers and understudies and what it takes to make it to the top in a competitive field. In the repeated refrain of The Dolci Quattro, Keith’s work urges all of us to “Sing On!”

March 24, 2017
REMEMBRANCE OF BLUE ROSES by Yorker Keith, a passionate literary novel

U.N. Human Resources Officer Mark Graham Sanders find his life turned inside out when a chance encounter reunites him with his friend, fellow U.N. colleague, Hans, and Hans’ beautiful, enigmatic wife, Yukari. Mark enters into this triangular friendship convinced that, although attracted to Yukari, he can maintain an appropriate emotional distance and still enjoy the deepening bonds of the trio’s relationship.

As the three friends grow closer, they discover their bond goes back several generations through their descendants, prompting Yukari to claim that destiny has brought them together. In tribute to this almost magical connection, the two men steal out to plant a rare variety of blue roses in the U.N. garden in Yukari’s honor.

In the meantime without warning, Yukari’s world is shattered when she learns of her husband’s infidelity. With a calm resolve, she takes Mark into her confidence, revealing her plan to divorce Hans. Mark’s loyalty to Hans pushes him to help the couple reconcile, and when Yukari becomes pregnant with Hans’ child, peace seems to return. But the quiet grace and gossamer vulnerability surrounding Yukari draws Mark in, like a moth to a bonfire. And when Hans’ quest for “meaning” in his life takes him to another continent, leaving Mark to care for Yukari during her pregnancy, tragedy beckons.

Set in the rich cultural backdrop of New York City, author Yorker Keith uses precise language and an insightful first-person narrative to explore the myriad facets of complex emotional relationships. A struggle of personal integrity allows his main character, Mark, to develop deeper levels of human understanding, to accept his own imperfections and rediscover himself while Han’s crisis of conscience forces him into a position of atonement. Yukari, like Madame Butterfly, spans the entire range of tragic, elegant love.

Yorker Keith’s Remembrance of Blue Roses is a slow-burning, passionate literary novel that speaks to the romantic in all of us.

July 21, 2016