Publisher's Weekly
"I know my imagination waxes vivid at times, but I swear I heard the song of Ariel pealed forth merrily by pixies, elves, leprechauns, gremlins, and other assorted sprites as Jon and I rocked back and forth together, his lustful desire reaching the crescendo." Which is a long way from Moore's The Green Berets or The French Connection. In this improbably silly book, Harvard sociology professor, New Age dowser and expert in paranormal phenomena Larry Carton has been invited to Sparrowhook Island by Margaret Evans to research and thwart the curse on her husband's family. For four generations, the eldest son has died young, and she now fears for the life of her grandson, Jon Port V. There are also jealous younger Ports eager to profit from the possible casino on the island's Indian reservation; mystical ley lines; and a love interest with the local "island girl," who Larry is desperate to see, as he says over and over, "au natural." Clotted narrative aside, the book suffers from unfortunate stereotypesNative Americans appear as alcoholics or shamans, the one black man is a shifty villainand the writing is sometimes groaningly bad: "I couldn't help myself from wondering if the right energy, the right circumstances would be strong enough to overcome convention and allow us to reach an intellectual communion... and then to manifest itself physically."
"I know my imagination waxes vivid at times, but I swear I heard the song of Ariel pealed forth merrily by pixies, elves, leprechauns, gremlins, and other assorted sprites as Jon and I rocked back and forth together, his lustful desire reaching the crescendo." Which is a long way from Moore's The Green Berets or The French Connection. In this improbably silly book, Harvard sociology professor, New Age dowser and expert in paranormal phenomena Larry Carton has been invited to Sparrowhook Island by Margaret Evans to research and thwart the curse on her husband's family. For four generations, the eldest son has died young, and she now fears for the life of her grandson, Jon Port V. There are also jealous younger Ports eager to profit from the possible casino on the island's Indian reservation; mystical ley lines; and a love interest with the local "island girl," who Larry is desperate to see, as he says over and over, "au natural." Clotted narrative aside, the book suffers from unfortunate stereotypesNative Americans appear as alcoholics or shamans, the one black man is a shifty villainand the writing is sometimes groaningly bad: "I couldn't help myself from wondering if the right energy, the right circumstances would be strong enough to overcome convention and allow us to reach an intellectual communion... and then to manifest itself physically."
Used availability for Robin Moore's The Sparrowhook Curse