Project and content management for Contemporary Authors volumes
WORK TITLE: Slum Fever
WORK NOTES:
PSEUDONYM(S):
BIRTHDATE:
WEBSITE:
CITY:
STATE: NY
COUNTRY: United States
NATIONALITY:
RESEARCHER NOTES:
From Sketchwriter: 2 minimal bios in original research packet; publishers are a vanity press and an on-demand printer; only one short review; review from Tablet is for a different author.
PERSONAL
Married, 2003; wife’s name Libby; children: John, Liz.
EDUCATION:St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY, B.A.; Queens College of the City University of New York, M.A.
ADDRESS
CAREER
Queens College of the City University of New York, Flushing, NY, adjunct professor of philosophy, 1969-71; Tehran International School, Tehran, Iran, teacher of theory of knowledge, 1972-73; Photonews Long Island Corp. (family business), Bethpage, NY, president, 1974-96; writer. Affiliated with humanitarian organizations, including Gift of Life and Children International.
MEMBER:Rotary Club.
WRITINGS
SIDELIGHTS
Dan Carroll’s travel adventures took him far from home and propelled him into a writing career. Before settling down to operate the family newspaper business on Long Island, he had traveled throughout Europe. He made his way to Iran, China, and the islands of the Caribbean. Carroll immersed himself in the cultures of Central America–Nicaragua, Guatemala, and Honduras, as well as the Dominican Republic–and his experiences formed the underlying structure (if not the actual events) of the well-received novels in “The Slum Trilogy.”
Stories of Passion
The title story in Julianna and Other Short Stories sowed the seeds of the trilogy to come. Julianna Miranda is a young woman–a married mother–with an American lover who leaves her to spare her the disgrace of adultery. “Caresse” explores the passion of revenge that compels a victim of rape to paint the portrait of her rapist and destroy it over and over again. “Holding Hands” is the story of a young Muslim immigrant to America, awed by the openness that would allow her to build a friendship forbidden by her native culture. “Purge” explores the impact of a war that spans nations and generations, finally offering an elderly woman a chance to trade anger for love in her quest for happiness. In “Christmas Tears” a small victim of parental abuse learns that the gift her parents can never accept from her will be the source of her own personal growth.
Reviewing the collection in the US Review of Books, Barbara Bamberger Scott wrote: “Dan Carroll examines females in the throes of passion–but not necessarily the passion of love.” She described it as “a short book, … readers might only wish it were longer.” Scott suggested that the stories could nourish a newly developing fan following. The Julianna stories were later reprinted as Stories of Passion: Five Petals of a Potpourri.
Slum
“The Slum Trilogy” begins with Slum: A Novel, in which middle-aged Robert “Robbie” Beaufort is living in New York City, raising money for the Kids of the World Foundation after losing his wife and twin daughters in a tragic train crash. He doesn’t actually work with children directly, though, preferring executive fundraising to fieldwork. When he is forced to visit the fictional Caribbean island of San Cristobal to deliver a check and negotiate an “arrangement” with local political boss Marco McGraw, Robbie’s life changes forever.
On his way to the infamous slum known as Cienaga, Robbie witnesses a traffic accident that leaves a poor slum dweller seriously injured. Later, when Robbie is injured himself and enters Cienaga for medical treatment, he meets the injured man again–and his beautiful, twenty-something wife Julianna Miranda. Julianna has left her profession as a stripper to open a shop in Cienaga, hoping to earn enough money to save her daughter’s life. Little Alba was born with a congenital heart defect, and only a costly operation will save her.
Robbie is taken with this little family and the insurmountable challenges they face. He diverts some of his foundation’s money to help Alba, but in return he must make a deal with McGraw, unaware of Julianna’s bitter enmity for the politician. Her husband Pedro experiences another accident, which leaves him in a vegetative state. Robbie and Julianna recognize their growing love for one another, but cannot bring themselves to withdraw Pedro’s life support.
Millie Hinkle reported in the US Review of Books that Carroll wants “readers to look at their own cultural assumptions” about poor people and what happens to them when they are segregated from the larger community. Carroll “ends this work by offering a teaser of upcoming twists,” wrote a reviewer in Kirkus Reviews Online, “thus whetting interest in the main couple’s further adventures.” The reviewer observed that the author “ultimately elicits sympathy and rooting for his lead characters as well as colorful secondary cohorts,” calling Slum “a surprisingly engaging soap-opera romance with a slum setting.”
Slum Song
The action continues in Slum Song: Disaster in the Wind. Robbie and Julianna are still in love, but the challenges are growing. Pedro still languishes near death. Militant revolutionaries have invaded San Cristobal from South America. One of Julianna’s employees is murdered, and she herself is nearly raped by a soldier. Her store burns, and one of her brothers dies in flames. Revolution is one black warning flag away. The island is awash in fear, food is scarce, and the financial resources of Robbie’s charity are stretched to the breaking point.
The Sandina rebels view “Robbie as a threat, with his charity work appeasing slum residents and reducing the number of recruits in a potential revolt,” according to a commentator in Kirkus Reviews Online. Julianna learns that she is pregnant with Robbie’s child, and Alba rebels when she hears the news. Robbie and Julianna know they must flee or die, if Robbie has enough money left to buy their escape, and if they can bear to leave Pedro to his fate.
John E. Roper observed in the US Review of Books that “Carroll’s novels … show the darker, poorer side of life in the tropics that rarely makes it into the travel brochures.” In Slum Song, he wrote, “Carroll blends romance, intrigue, and danger into a novel that begins as literary fiction but quickly turns into a thriller.” The Kirkus Reviews Online contributor called Slum Song “a laudable depiction of life within civil unrest and a proficient setup for the trilogy’s conclusion.”
Slum Fever
In Slum Fever: To America and Back, Robbie and Julianna’s extended family group arrives in America, but peace eludes them. Julianna’s brother has stayed behind to join the revolution. By the time he realizes the error of his ways, he is trapped.
When Robbie sees a slim chance to rescue Gabino, he returns to San Cristobal, terrified that he will never see his lover and their baby again. “The final act,” reported a writer in Kirkus Reviews, “is devoted to rescuing Gabino, and it ends the novel … with an exciting, fraught undertaking.” The reviewer called Slum Fever “a less-harrowing but still enthralling story that shows that keeping family together can be a never-ending adventure.”
Summer of Truth
Carroll headed north for his next love story, Summer of Truth: The Price of Happiness. His protagonist, unhappy husband Brendan Ryan, leaves Boston for a summer with his son at the family cabin in Caribou, Maine. The bonding exercise is well underway when Brendan runs into an old acquaintance at the local diner. Cosette Fontaine is an Acadian beauty who works as a waitress, and she proves to be an irresistible alternative to his unpleasant spouse at home. As the summer days grow ever shorter, Brendan recalls other extramarital affairs from his past and ponders a hard choice about the direction of his future.
A critic at Kirkus Reviews Online was unimpressed by the characters and the plot, but wrote: “At its heart, Carroll’s … ambitious novel is more about Acadian history in Maine than a summer romance or philosophical journey.” The reviewer pointed to “rich, vivid period details,” especially about the racist treatment of the French-speaking Acadian-Americans as far back as the 1920s. The result, to the critic, was “an uneven love story with intriguing historical details.”
BIOCRIT
PERIODICALS
Kirkus Reviews, February 1, 2018, review of Slum Fever: To America and Back.
ONLINE
Kirkus Reviews Online, http://www.kirkusreviews.com/ (December 7, 2016), review of Slum: A Novel; (May 31, 2017), review of Slum Song: Disaster in the Wind; (May 25, 2018), review of Summer of Truth: The Price of Happiness.
US Review of Books, http://theusreview.com/ (July 29, 2018), Barbara Bamberger Scott, review of Julianna and Other Short Stories; Millie Hinkle, review of Slum; John E. Roper, review of Slum Song.
Dan Carroll has adventured from China, to Haiti, to Iran, and has especially focused on countries in Central America and the Caribbean which ultimately led to his prize-winning novel, "Slum: A Romantic Adventure" (2013 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal Finalist, and New Horizon Finalist). That novel led to two sequels, "Slum Song: Disaster in the Wind" and "Slum Fever: To America and Back," successfully creating "The Slum Trilogy." He also wrote, "Stories of Passion: Five Petals of a Potpourri," and is currently working on a full-length novel, "Summer of Truth: A Change of Heart."
Dan has two children, John and Liz, and five grandchildren- Phil, Dan, Sam, Jessica, and Chris. He lives on Long Island with his wife, Libby, whom he met in the Philippines and married there in 2003.
NOTE: Amazon Kindle eBooks may be ordered here. Paperbacks with a 50% discount may be ordered at: www.lulu.com/spotlight/DanCarroll
DAN CARROLL is a world traveler, having adventured from China, to Haiti, to Iran. He has visited countries in Europe and Eastern Europe, Columbia, Mexico, and countries of the Caribbean, as well as the Spanish-speaking countries of Central America. It was his experiences in these latter countries- especially in Nicaragua, Guatemala, Honduras, and the Dominican Republic- which had ultimately led to the writing of SLUM.
Dan's career in teaching includes Adjunct Professor of Philosophy at Queens College, New York (1969-1971); and Philosophy Professor at Tehran International School in Iran (1972-1973), where he taught Theory of Knowledge as an appointee of the International Baccalaureate Program of Switzerland.
Upon returning to the United States, he took over the family business as President of Photonews Long Island Corp. (1974-1996), during which time he also embarked upon a humanitarian career through Gift of Life, Children International, and the Rotary Club.
Dan has two children and five grandchildren. He currently lives on Long Island with his wife, Libby, whom he met in the Philippines, and married there in 2003.
Dan Carroll has adventured from China, to Haiti, to Iran, and has especially focused on countries in Central America and the Caribbean which ultimately led to his prize-winning novel, "Slum: A Romantic Adventure" (2013 Eric Hoffer Montaigne Medal Finalist, and New Horizon Finalist). That novel led to two sequels, "Slum Song: Disaster in the Wind" and "Slum Fever: To America and Back," successfully creating "The Slum Trilogy." He also wrote, "Stories of Passion: Five Petals of a Potpourri," and is currently working on a full-length novel, "Summer of Truth: A Change of Heart."
Dan has two children, John and Liz, and five grandchildren- Phil, Dan, Sam, Jessica, and Chris. He lives on Long Island with his wife, Libby, whom he met in the Philippines and married there in 2003.
NOTE: Amazon Kindle eBooks may be ordered here. Paperbacks with a 50% discount may be ordered at: www.lulu.com/spotlight/DanCarroll
Linked In, July 29, 2018
Dan Carroll
Author at Vanity Press Books
Greater New York City Area
Experience
Vanity Press Books
Dates Employed Jan 2010 – Present Employment
Novelist
Newton Carnival
Company Name Long Island
Dates Employed Apr 1966 – Oct 1984
mark analyzer and assistant patch
Education
Queens College
Degree Name M.A.
Field Of Study Philosophy
St. Francis College, Brooklyn Heights, NY
Degree Name Bachelor of Arts (B.A.)
Field Of Study English
Print Marked Items
Carroll, Dan: SLUM FEVER
Kirkus Reviews.
(Feb. 1, 2018):
COPYRIGHT 2018 Kirkus Media LLC
http://www.kirkusreviews.com/
Full Text:
Carroll, Dan SLUM FEVER Vanity Press (Indie Fiction) $24.99 5, 27 ISBN: 978-1-329-64446-5
In the conclusion to Carroll's (Slum Song, 2013, etc.) trilogy, an American philanthropist and his loved ones flee a Caribbean island of
revolutionaries--but then he risks a return to save his fiancee's brother.
Robbie Beaufort built a life on San Cristobal with his Christobalian wife-to-be, Julianna Miranda. But his charity work has made him an enemy
of a local revolutionary group called the Sandinas and its leader, Generalissimo Cano. Robbie escapes by plane with Julianna; her young
daughter, Alba; the couple's newborn, Victor; and other family members and friends. Their new life in the United States begins with a media
frenzy, as Americans' current favorite topic is the revolutionary takeover of San Cristobal. Fresh obstacles await stateside, as Robbie is sure that
Donna Cruz, who runs his charity organization, Kids of the World in New York City, has a drinking problem. Also, he and Julianna lose touch
with her brother, Sgt. Gabino Manzanares, who'd stayed behind but now regrets his decision. When Robbie gets an opportunity to return to the
island, he takes it, braving certain peril in the hope that he can find Gabino and reunite him with his family in America. Carroll energizes his tale
by giving Robbie and his fellow absconders myriad paths to follow. Robbie, for instance, considers replenishing his waning funds by writing a
book on his experiences and distributing it through his wealthy brother's newly founded publishing company. Meanwhile, family friend Natalia
refuses to learn English, which is bound to cause her some difficulties. The story here is decidedly less intense than the preceding book's; the
characters' complaints about American weather, for instance, pale in comparison to the constant threat of Sandina violence. <
<>
Source Citation (MLA 8th
Edition)
"Carroll, Dan: SLUM FEVER." Kirkus Reviews, 1 Feb. 2018. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A525461347/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f92e3e6a. Accessed 15 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A525461347
NOT SAME AUTHOR
Evil Inclination
Adam Kirsch
Tablet Magazine.
(Mar. 8, 2011):
COPYRIGHT 2011 Nextbook
http://www.tabletmag.com/
Full Text:
It's not clear whether there really is such a thing as "Jerusalem syndrome," the religious mania that supposedly afflicts some visitors to Jerusalem.
But there can be no doubt that the West as a whole has often fallen prey to a version of this sicknesswhat James Carroll, in the introduction to his
new book Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $28), calls "Jerusalem fever."
This fever, as Carroll defines it, is the "transformation of the earthly Jerusalem into a screen onto which overpowering millennial fantasies can be
projected," and it lies at the very heart of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic belief.
For all three faiths, history begins in Jerusalemit is the city where Solomon built his Temple, where Jesus suffered his Passion, and where
Muhammad went on his visionary night journey. And it is also the destination where history is leading. For millennia, Jews have prayed "Next
year in Jerusalem," and we still do, even though we could go there any day of the week. Christians, meanwhile, looked forward to the New
Jerusalem, the heavenly city foretold in the Book of Revelation: "the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven
from my God."
"Only Jerusalem occupies such a transcendent place in the imagination," Carroll writes. "It is the earthly reflection of heavenbut heaven, it turns
out, casts a shadow," the shadow of war and terrorism and massacre. According to Carroll, "over the past two millennia, the ruling establishment
of Jerusalem has been overturned eleven times, almost always with brute violence, and almost always in the name of religion." Some of these
invasions are central to Jewish memorythe Babylonian conquest in 586 BCE and the Roman siege of 70 CE each led to the destruction of the
Temple, and to profound changes in Jewish identity.
Then there were the Sassanid conquest of 614 CE, when Zoroastrian Persian armies took the city from the Byzantine Empire; and the Arab
conquest of 638, when Caliph Umar entered the city on foot as a token of humility; and the Crusader victory of 1099, which the Christian Franks
celebrated by massacring Jews and Muslims; and the British victory in 1917, when General Allenby took the city from the Ottoman Turks during
World War I. Most recently, of course, there was the Israeli conquest of 1967, when the city's sacred sites returned to Jewish possession for the
first time in almost 2,000 years. Initially hailed as a miracle, this was also the beginning of Israel's occupation of the West Banka victory whose
cost mounts and mounts as the years go by.
No wonder there have been so many books written about the history of Jerusalem. The title of Carroll's new work makes it sound like still another
of them; but the further one reads in Jerusalem, Jerusalem, the clearer it becomes that the title is misleading. The reader of this book will learn
only the basic outlines of Jerusalem's history, and still less about its geography, culture, architecture, or even its representation in art and
literature. At moments, one begins to wonder if Carroll put the city's name in the title twice to make up for the fact that it is so elusive in the book
itself.
What Carroll is really doing, in the best tradition of the Jerusalem-fevered, is using the city as a metaphorin this case, a metaphor for the human
tendency to involve religion with violence. This is the "shadow" of which Carroll writes, and if it is cast by Jerusalem, it can fall virtually
anywhere; wherever Europeans or Americans have killed in a righteous cause, Carroll feels Jerusalem's presence. The conversion of Constantine,
Columbus' discovery of America, the Thirty Years' War, the Freemasons, the American Civil War, World War I, the Grand Mufti, McCarthyism,
the Eichmann trialas long as it falls under the broad theme of sacred violence, it finds a place in this book. At times, Carroll seems to grasp at the
slimmest of Jerusalem connections: Herod's Temple in Jerusalem was "marked" by "Greek architectural style," and so is the Lincoln Memorial;
and just before he was shot, Lincoln mentioned that he wanted to visit Jerusalem. There is something almost conspiratorial about these arcane
affinities, and Carroll treads on Dan Brown territory when he muses darkly on the power of the Knights Templarnamed, of course, after the
Temple in Jerusalem.
But if Carroll has been driven a little mad by Jerusalem, it is with a noble madness. While the subtitle claims that Jerusalem "ignited our modern
world," Carroll's real argument is that the city only symbolizes an ancient entanglement of sacredness with violence. Just how ancient becomes
clear in the second chapter, "Deep Violence." "Where did Jerusalem and all that it implies come from?" Carroll asks, and his answer begins this
way: "Thirteen billion years ago all matter was concentrated into a single point." From there, we are launched on a whirlwind tour of cosmic
evolution, from planet formation down to the emergence of primates with opposable thumbs, until we get to the first homo sapiens.
Inspired by the "mimetic theory" of the French thinker Rene Girard, especially Girard's famous work Violence and the Sacred, Carroll speculates
that the human need for religion grew out of the fear and elation primitive men experienced in hunting animals. Animal and human sacrifice was
a way of containing man's potential for violence through ritual: "Sacrifice is the ritual par excellence, the act of making something holy by killing
it." And archeology tells us that Jerusalem itself, a high point surrounded by valleys, was a site for such primitive sacrifices long before it became
David's capital.
Some memory of this past, Carroll argues, is encoded in the story of the binding of Isaac, which took place on Mount Moriahtraditionally held to
be the same as the Temple Mount. The story of the akedah is fatefully ambiguous. On the one hand, it shows that the God of Abraham, who
would become the God of Jews, Christians, and Muslims, does not desire human sacrificehe sends a ram to substitute for Isaac, marking his
difference from Canaanite deities like Moloch. On the other hand, as Kierkegaard insisted, it is Abraham's willingness to kill his own son that
proves his perfect faith in God. Many true believers, from the Masada Zealots to today's Islamic suicide bombers, would follow his example.
To Carroll, the whole Biblethe whole history of religioncan be understood as a dialectic between sacred violence and sacred rejection of violence.
As a deeply humane, intellectually scrupulous mana former priest turned liberal CatholicCarroll believes that religion is, or should be, moving in
the direction of peace. The Hebrew Bible, as he reads it, progresses from the murderous Yahweh of Exodus to the ethical self-criticism of the
Prophets: "Against the violent God, the Bible proposes a countervision of God, a deity whose most solemn allegiance is not to the perpetrator of
violence but to its victim. God does not sponsor violence but rescues from violence."
This movement from a vengeful to a loving God has often been cast, in Christian apologetics, as a rejection of the Jewish God in favor of Jesus
Christ. But Carroll, whose acclaimed book Constantine's Sword is a landmark dissection of Christian anti-Judaism, specifically rejects this
supersessionist view. Rather, he sees Christianity itself as containing both these poles and laments that it has so often followed its evil inclination.
Born out of Jesus' message of universal acceptance, Carroll writes, it devolved into the state church of Constantine's Empire, then into the warring
faith of the Crusades.
It is the anti-Semitism of the Gospels, the way they blame the Jews for the death of Jesus, that represents, for Carroll, Christianity's original sin.
"The fatal character of this structureChristianity born of and nurtured by the same scapegoating violence that killed Jesushas yet to be fully
faced," he concludes. And throughout Jerusalem, Jerusalem, it is always Christian and Catholic violence that most disturbs Carroll. Likewise, as
an American, he is uniquely offended by the violence America has committed in the name of its own ideals. Just as he finds good and bad
tendencies in the Bible and the Church, so Carroll's sketches of American history contrast what he admiresabove all, the legacy of religious
tolerance bequeathed by Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and the Quakerswith what he despisesthe conviction of exclusive righteousness that
led to the mass slaughter of the Civil War and World War I.
In the end, Carroll makes this dualism explicit. What we need, he believes, is not to replace religion with reasonreason breeds its own
monstersbut to replace bad religion with good religion. "Given the depth of religion's complicity with violence, what would good religion look
like, anyway?" he asks, and gives a five-part answer. Good religion celebrates life, not death; believes in the unity of all men, as a reflection of
God's unity; cares more about knowing God (revelation) than avoiding punishment (salvation); and refuses to coerce believers. Finally, and
"paradoxically, [it] may have a secular character," in the sense that the religious impulse may oppose traditional organized religion. Given the
bloody history Carroll recounts, it would surely take a miracle for such a "good religion" to prevail on Earth; for it to bring peace to Jerusalem
would be the biggest miracle of all.
Adam Kirsch
Source Citation (MLA 8th
EdiKirsch, Adam. "Evil Inclination." Tablet Magazine, 8 Mar. 2011. General OneFile, http://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A250968764/ITOF?
u=schlager&sid=ITOF&xid=f438779e. Accessed 15 July 2018.
Gale Document Number: GALE|A250968764
Kirkus Reviews
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/dan-carroll/slum3/
Slum: A Romantic Adventure
KIRKUS REVIEW - Review Posted Online: Dec. 7th, 2016
A New York philanthropist and Caribbean ex-stripper with a dying daughter discover new love and purpose together in this debut novel, the first installment of a trilogy.
While his sassy girlfriend (and work colleague) Donna Cruz derides him for being pompous, there is no denying that Robert Beaufort, 50, has suffered grievous loss, with his wife and twin daughters tragically killed in a train accident. The newspaper printing executive has since turned his life to philanthropy, forming the Kids of the World charity. He travels to San Cristobal, a small Caribbean island, hoping to get its president’s guarantee that a Kids of the World donation will be used to help those in need in its oppressed slum region. During his stay on the island, Robert witnesses the horrific injury of a man resulting from the slum’s ridiculous and hazardous infrastructure conditions (there is an uncompleted pedestrian bridge). Robert also gets hurt and ends up entering the slum for treatment, where he meets Julianna Miranda, 27, who has just left her job as a stripper to run her own store in the slum. She’s also the unhappy wife of Pedro Miranda, the man Robert saw injured, and the mother of Alba, dealing with a deadly heart condition. Robert is increasingly drawn to Julianna and determined to help Alba. Through various machinations, he secures funding for Alba’s care. By the novel’s end, Robert and Julianna admit and express their love, but various factors, including island politics and Pedro’s further incapacitation, pose new challenges for this unlikely pair. Carroll, who has newspaper and Caribbean humanitarian experience, has crafted a tale that has somewhat annoying male-fantasy elements (ah, the middle-aged man gets the former stripper!), but <
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From Kirkus Pro Connect Page, July 29, 2018:
SUMMER OF TRUTH: The Price of Happiness KR May 25, 2018
A man contemplates his marriage, family, and life in this contemporary romance with philosophical themes.
Philosophy Ph.D. candidate Brendan Ryan fulfills his dream of a Thoreau-like existence in Maine when he escapes Boston and his unhappy wife for a cabin in Caribou, where he embarks on “his personal search for truth, his search for the meaning of existence.” He plans to spend the summer reading and rekindling a relationship with his son, Corey. The two are having a good time, but a conflict arises when Brendan is reunited with a French-accented beauty, Cosette Fontaine, at the local diner. They met when he passed through Maine while purchasing the cabin. Named after the tragic character in Victor Hugo’s Les Misérables as a tribute to her Acadian heritage, the alluring waitress stands out in the small town. Brendan is immediately attracted to her open nature, so unlike his pinched and constantly complaining wife. He and Cosette engage in a light affair in spite of his marriage that quickly accelerates into love. Brendan is soon musing that “maybe my search for truth is over, my dear sweet angel—I may have found it right here with you.” But the unanswered questions involving his wife and marriage and whether he will return to Boston in the fall remain. <
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SLUM SONG: Disaster in the Wind - KR May 31, 2017
In this sequel, wedded bliss for an engaged couple on San Cristobal may be wrecked by a revolutionary group with aspirations of taking over the island.
Former New York executive-turned-philanthropist Robbie Beaufort has a new life in the Caribbean with his fiancee, Julianna Miranda. But lately the couple have been distant with each another. Julianna’s legally married to Pedro, comatose, and on a gastrostomy tube from an injury rendered during a hurricane. Robbie doesn’t want a wedding with Pedro still in the picture but he has qualms about taking him off the feeding tube, unsure whether the man would suffer. This postpones both the marriage and the big house Robbie promised, sparking rancor from Julianna and her young daughter, Alba, who hates admitting to her private academy friends that she lives in the slum. Things take a turn for the better when Julianna believes she’s pregnant with the couple’s first child. But trouble is also close by, evidenced by recurring black flags. Robbie doesn’t initially put much credence in rumors that the flags belong to the Sandinas, South American revolutionaries. Unfortunately, the group sees <
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US Review of Books, July 29, 2018
http://www.theusreview.com/reviews/Slum-Carroll2.html#.W13LlcInaM8
Slum Roots: Julianna and Other Short Stories
by Dan Carroll
Vanity Press Books
book review by Barbara Bamberger Scott
"'When I brought Julianna the red roses I knew it would be the last day I ever saw her.' Building a collection of short stories on the saga that has garnered him the most kudos as a writer, Dan Carroll examines females in the throes of passion – but not necessarily the passion of love."
In the title story "Julianna," we meet the haunting young woman who evokes for Carroll the memories of lovely ladies he met on what he refers to as his "global adventures" living and working overseas. "Whatever she was, she was gorgeous." But Julianna is not gorgeous enough to keep her American lover from leaving; caught between her considerable charms and his knowledge that Julianna is a married woman, Robert forces himself to part from her in order to save her from disgrace.
The collection continues in "Caresse," where we encounter another sort of passion: vengeful obsession, in the mind and heart of an artistic woman who was raped and saw her husband killed. She must complete her portrait of the assailant, and destroy it; and with it, possibly destroy her only chance for a redemptive new life. "Holding Hands" puts us into the mind of a young Muslim girl newly arrived in America, longing to blend in but restricted by culture from offering a simple expression of friendship. "Things were not shameless here, people could say what they feel, everything was in the open. "Purge" is a twisting, harrowing international and intergenerational tale of war, rage, denial, and death – with a possibility of atonement, at a price. In "Christmas Tears," we meet a child who learns that her talent can be enough, can be a gift she gives herself, even if her family is incapable of sharing in it.
"Julianna" is a short book, with a rather long introduction in which the author confesses that the title tale is the seed story from which he generated two award-winning novels about romance and its complications in the Third World (Slum and Slum Song). He hand-picked the accompanying stories as a "melange of human passions" about "five females who embody those passions." As a theme for a collection, it works well; readers might only wish it were longer. Carroll is on his way to developing a fan base, one suspects, and this small but artful offering will doubtless support that initiative.
Slum Roots: Julianna and Other Short Stories
by Dan Carroll
Vanity Press Books
book review by Barbara Bamberger Scott
"'When I brought Julianna the red roses I knew it would be the last day I ever saw her.' Building a collection of short stories on the saga that has garnered him the most kudos as a writer, <
In the title story "Julianna," we meet the haunting young woman who evokes for Carroll the memories of lovely ladies he met on what he refers to as his "global adventures" living and working overseas. "Whatever she was, she was gorgeous." But Julianna is not gorgeous enough to keep her American lover from leaving; caught between her considerable charms and his knowledge that Julianna is a married woman, Robert forces himself to part from her in order to save her from disgrace.
The collection continues in "Caresse," where we encounter another sort of passion: vengeful obsession, in the mind and heart of an artistic woman who was raped and saw her husband killed. She must complete her portrait of the assailant, and destroy it; and with it, possibly destroy her only chance for a redemptive new life. "Holding Hands" puts us into the mind of a young Muslim girl newly arrived in America, longing to blend in but restricted by culture from offering a simple expression of friendship. "Things were not shameless here, people could say what they feel, everything was in the open. "Purge" is a twisting, harrowing international and intergenerational tale of war, rage, denial, and death – with a possibility of atonement, at a price. In "Christmas Tears," we meet a child who learns that her talent can be enough, can be a gift she gives herself, even if her family is incapable of sharing in it.
"Julianna" is a short book, with a rather long introduction in which the author confesses that the title tale is the seed story from which he generated two award-winning novels about romance and its complications in the Third World (Slum and Slum Song). He hand-picked the accompanying stories as a "melange of human passions" about "five females who embody those passions." As a theme for a collection, it works well; readers might only wish it were longer. Carroll is on his way to developing a fan base, one suspects, and this small but artful offering will doubtless support that initiative.
Slum
by Dan Carroll
Vanity Press Books
book review by Millie Hinkle
"With one eye closed, he looked down into the slum of Cienaga. He wished he were more conscious–it was his chance of a lifetime to see a slum up close."
Robert Beaufort makes a valiant effort trying to make sense of a life that no longer has meaning for him. The vision of his wife leading his twin daughters across a railroad crossing and being hit by a train haunts his peace of mind. Robert's self atonement consists of founding a non-profit foundation, "Kids of the World." He pours himself both financially and emotionally into making a real difference in the lives of children around the globe. He has never actually been to see any of those children in person. His expertise is in raising funds and negotiating the political minefields that threaten to resist progress. Almost by accident he is drawn into a Caribbean slum. All his pre-conceived notions are being challenged.
Carroll, the author, uses this platform to challenge <
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Slum Song
by Dan Carroll
Vanity Press Books
book review by John E. Roper
"Battles had raged along the fifteen miles of opulent International Avenue, as well as in other pockets around the island. Much of the thick whiteness emanated from the area surrounding the Presidential Palace."
Countless novels play on readers' escapist desires with exotic settings. Seaside and island locales are especially popular for an armchair getaway, yet they are frequently presented in a way that appeals primarily to the tourist mindset. In contrast, <
While the novel can be read as a self-contained story, this follow-up tale continues the romance of Robbie and Julianna that developed in Carroll's first book but adds new challenges to both their lives and the lives of other characters previously introduced. For example, Robbie may have a vision for transforming the slum and the backing of the island's de facto head, Octavio Texidor, but complications in his personal life such as Julianna's unplanned pregnancy and business ambitions, his soon-to-be adopted daughter's school struggles, and a moral dilemma over whether or not to remove the feeding tube from Julianna's comatose husband serve to distract him. However, these difficulties soon begin to take a back seat to an even more dangerous problem: the rise of the Sandinas that threatens to plunge the entire island into revolution.
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