The Next Queen of Heaven

Disappointing at best!

As the new millennium approaches, the eccentric town of Thebes grows even stranger. Clocked by a Catholic statuette, Mrs. Leontina Scales begins speaking in tongues. Her daughter, Tabitha Scales, and her sons scheme to save their mother or surrender her to Jesus - whatever comes first. Meanwhile, choir director Jeremy Carr, caught between lust and ambition, fumbles his way toward Y2K.

Only a modern master like Gregory Maguire can spin a tale this frantic, funny, and farcical. The ancient Sisters of the Sorrowful Mysteries join with a gay singing group. The Radical Radiants battle the Catholics. A Christmas pageant hoes horribly awry. And a child is born. (excerpt back cover).

Yes, all this is included in the 347 pages in the latest novel The Next Queen of Heaven, from Gregory Maguire, who is the best selling author of such books as Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister, Lost, Mirror Mirror, Matchless, and Wicked.

I had to say this was one of the most challenging books for me to attempt to get through as a reviewer and have no particular preference for any genre of book, however this one had me struggling to get through the first half of the books, with harsh profanity from the character of Tabitha who seems to think that such behavior is a shock value for her mom despite all her attempts at prayer to save her. Her pastor at the church suggests that she role model appropriate behavior for her to follow while praying for her to change. When Tabitha disappears in a store to purchase a CD, her mother waits and then shows up screaming profanity at the top of her voice while making a huge scene in front of Tabitha's friends.

When Tabitha hurries to make her purchase and later condemns her moms behavior, her mother is more than happy to point out how uncomfortable Tabitha makes it for her. So much for role model behavior. There are so many characters introduced throughout the book, that it's hard to maintain focus on just a handful. What disappoints me the most besides the language and references to Tabitha's many sexual encounters is that the book didn't do much to hold my interest. This was a huge let down for me after expecting a better book from Maguire after writing such hits like Wicked, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men.

While this book may appeal to some readers, it did not appeal to me. I had the most difficult time attempting to read this book in its entirety to provide an honest review. Trust me when I say that the excerpt on the back does lay the story out for you and tell you the general content of the book, but let the buyer beware.

I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and have to say this one is a 2 out of 5 stars.

1 out of 2 people found this review helpful.

Interesting, if not intriguing...

This is one of those novels where you care... but then you don't. For some reason, as interesting and extraordinary as the characters were supposed to be, most of the time I could not bring myself to *really* want to know what was going to happen. Maybe because they were *all* written as extraordinary, they all became ordinary within the novel.

I will be more specific. You have a stereo-typical evangelical christian who gets conked on the head while sneaking in the basement of the neighboring catholic church with, of all things, a statue of a catholic figurehead, her "slutty" and "stupid" daughter, her bully son, and her other highly effeminate, "confused" son. After being hit in the head, Leontina (the mother)'s behavior becomes bizarre---though never quite bizarre enough---cutting off the beginnings of her words, acting like a child in many ways, and eventually shutting down (much more interesting examples exist, but I do not wish to spoil any of the story). This all happens while her children, 17, 15, and 13 (ish.. I am not sure of the age of the youngest), are "taking care of" her and attempting to move forward and grow in their own lives. Just to add a little more, the daughter is also "suffering" from a boyfriend who is suddenly unavailable, as well as being the object of most grown men's attentions.

And that is just one of the story lines. The other centers around three gay guys in this small new york town who need to practice for their singing group in a building housing a dozen or so elderly nuns. One of the guys, who also happens to be the musical director for the catholic church in which Leontina hit her head, is fighting demons from his past, another of the guys is fighting his too-catholic parents as well as a life-threatening disease, and the third is jewish.

In under 300 pages, the book became a series of events instead of a novel wherein the reader could actually feel attached to any of the characters. In the end, it was difficult to feel anything---sympathy, joy, laughter, pain---for the characters because they had all become caricatures of who they could have been.

Criticism aside, Maguire is still a great writer with interesting approaches, good ideas, and a nice use of words.

I would recommend this book to people whose favorites books are among the "drama" or "life" books.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Next Queen of Heaven

This book has one of the most diverse cast of characters I've ever seen. We start out with the rebellious teenage girl (Tabitha) and her super religious mother (Leontina - a Pentacostal). The two brothers of the family - one an attention starved young man that would do anything to please and the other surprisingly like Tabitha. Next we meet the Catholics (they share a parking lot with the mother's chuch). The way we meet them is rather interesting. Leontina sneaks into the Catholic church one morning to "borrow" some cream and gets knocked out by a falling virgin Mary statue.

This is where things really get interesting as Leontina seems to have lost her mind and is left at home with her three children to care for her. But back to the Catholics. My favorite was Jeremy, the gay choir director, and his two friends are trying to find a place to practice for an AIDS benefit concert. Well, the only place they can find is a nunnery. A nunnery full of old retired nuns that ask only for some conversation in exchange for letting the boys used some space there.

Somehow Maguire manages to get all these people tied up into the same story line as Christmas is quickly approaching. I won't want to say too much more or a lot of the surprises would be spoiled. An amazing book, that actually has you looking at a few serious issues of the world in a new way without even realized it until you're finished.

5/5

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

The Kind Of Offbeat Tale Maguire Does So Well

Gregory Maguire's new book, The Next Queen Of Heaven, focuses on small town America and the role that religion plays in this setting. The cast of characters rely on religion in various ways for various purposes, some spiritual, some skeptical while others are going through the paces of their lives looking for ways to connect and finding them in different churches. The book is set in the small town of Thebes, New York in the late 1990's.

Jeremy Carr is the choir director at the local Catholic parish. He is hoping to make his big break after Christmas as he has won a place in a musical revue in New York. Jeremy is gay, and his singing group is made up of his friends who are also gay; one fighting AIDS. What has kept him in Thebes outside of a sense of obligation is his inability to stop loving Willem, who had a fling with him before Willem got married. Jeremy knows his love is impractical, but is stuck and can't bring himself to leave.

Another part of the book revolves around the Scales family. Mrs. Scales is raising three children by herself, and looks to religion to help her get through the days and provide a structure for her children. She is met by indifferent success, at least by the measures of traditional success. Tabitha is the oldest and the town scandal as she moves from man to man. The middle son is Hogan, a dropout who is interested in cars and garages and video games, but not much else. The youngest is a son named Kirk, who is interested in music and drama and doesn't fit in well in a traditional school setting. Mrs. Scales, who is a fundamentalist Christian, is transformed when she goes next door to the Catholic church and gets hit over the head with a statue.

There are other characters that play a part in the patterns. A group of ancient nuns live in an old convent outside of town, and a friendship develops between them and Jeremy's group. There are various ministers and priests, some of whom are helpful and some of whom use religion to accomplish their personal goals. Each person is clawing their way towards finding some meaning in their lives.

Gregory Maguire is best known for his Wicked series, which used The Wizard Of Oz story to reinterpt live and love. This new book strikes out into fresh territory, which retaining Maguire's offbeat humor and ability to delve into his character's lives. This book is recommended for all readers.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

interesting end of days

In 1999 in Upstate New York, seventeen year old Tabitha Scales becomes the caretaker to her ultra religious mom Leontina after the latter takes a nasty blow to the head from a statue of the Virgin Mary. A highly pious Protestant who religiously attended the Cliffs of Zion Radiant Radical Pentecostal Fellowship, the three-time divorcee undergoes a radical personality change from someone who thought profanity was a sin to cursing out loud. She is a stranger in many ways to her frustrated daughter and her sons.

Catholic Church music director Jeremy Carr hopes his show in New York City will enable him to flee from Thebes and finally leave behind his beloved Willem Handelaers, who is married with children. Although gay, Jeremy Carr becomes friends with the nuns of Our Lady of the Sorrowful Mysteries monastery. At about the same time, Tabitha falls in love but the object of her affection loves another woman who sings in Carr's Catholic Church choir.

As the millennium countdown occurs in this small town, religious fever is at a frenzied high level that most people never see in their lifetime. Thus faith is bandied often with jocular pseudo babbling philosophy that makes St, Anselm's proof of God seem more deductive valid than most of the cast, who rationalize their belief system to cover their behavior. Readers who relish something different will appreciate a visit to Thebes, New York at the end of days of the last millennium.

Harriet Klausner

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful.

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