An island. A storm. A shipwreck. An exiled old man with a beautiful daughter--sound familiar? If The Tempest comes to mind, you're close. Frederick Buechner bases his novel The Storm on Shakespeare's melancholy last play, but adds some distinctly 20th-century twists of his own. The protagonist of this tall tale is Kenzie Maxwell, an elderly writer living off his third wife's money on an island in South Florida. Kenzie's 70th birthday is coming up, and his family starts to gather: his illegitimate daughter, Bree, comes from New York; and so does his estranged brother, Dalton--the man responsible for his leaving New York in disgrace many years before. Also along for the ride is Dalton's appealing young stepson, Nandy; Kenzie's mystical wind-surfer pal, Averill; and Calvert, the boorish gardener. Readers familiar with the play will instantly recognize who's who in this gallery of characters. Though the party gets off to a rocky start and a tempest is brewing just off shore, by the time Buechner finishes working his own rough magic, The Storm becomes a harbinger not of disaster but of reconciliation and love. --Margaret Prior


From Publishers Weekly
Clergyman and novelist Buechner (On the Road with the Archangel) switches from the Bible to the Bard for a tale of two brothers' reconciliation inspired by The Tempest. Cast in the role of Prospero is Kenzie Maxwell, a dapper and somewhat pretentious septuagenarian novelist who has settled with his rich third wife on an island off the Southern Florida coast. For 20 years, he has been estranged from his law professor brother, Dalton, and distanced from his daughter, Bree, the product of a melancholy affair with a 17-year-old inner-city graffiti artist who tagged her work "Kia." The upright Dalton blamed Kenzie for the scandal that shook the shelter for homeless youths where Kia and Kenzie met and on whose board Dalton sat. Kenzie, however, has been unable to forgive his brother for his callousness over Kia's death during childbirth. Other semi-Shakespearean characters include Nandy Maxwell, Dalton's ne'er-do-well stepson (Ferdinand); Averill, the ethereal Buddhist wind-surfing son of Kenzie's new wife (Ariel); and Clavert Sykes, Kenzie's drunken handyman, who claims to be the illegitimate heir to most of the island's real estate (Caliban). Buechner sets the stage for reconciliation as this far-flung family is drawn by various means to Plantation Island, and, inverting his source, makes a tempest the climax of their conflicting natures. If Buechner's version of the classic tale lacks the comic relief of the original, he is a fluent storyteller with a fine eye for character and a rich prose style that easily handles poetic tropes. Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.


From Kirkus Reviews
A wonderfully humane and satisfying meditative romance from the Presbyterian minister and veteran author (On the Road With the Archangel, 1997, etc.). The major actions here occur on and around Plantation Island, site of an upper-class Florida resort ``ruled'' by wealthy spinster Violet Sickert. To the island has come Kenzie Maxwell, a thrice-married writer in ``exile'' following his ``scandalous'' fathering of an illegitimate child, to join his prosperous new wife Willow, her underachieving, vaguely religious 40-year-old son Averill, and Willow's live-in caretaker, the brutish Calvert Sykes (who believes he is Violet's illegitimate son). As preparations for Kenzie's 70th birthday party are shadowed by the imminent appearance of the disapproving older brother (Dalton) from whom he has long been estranged, and as a storm closes in on the island, the pattern that underlies this altogether fetching tale gradually becomes clear: Kenzie is the compromised wizard Prospero; his daughter ``Bree'' (Gabrielle) is Miranda; Averill, the sprite Ariel; Calvert, the ``monster'' Caliban; and so on. It's a fascinating set of variations on the Shakespearean source, expressed in spare, simple declarative sentences that propel the story forward with commendable swiftness. Buechner moves skillfully among the viewpoints of several major charactersthe reader is surprised by the generous shift of focus from nominal protagonist Kenzie so as to include Calvert's determination to be respected and Violet Sickert's desperate wish to be, at last, both loving and loved. All concludes with a series of funny and touching direct allusions to The Tempest (the drunken Trinculo's worship of Caliban, for instance, takes the form of a naive Bishop mistaking Calvert for a country-western singer) and a lyrical valediction declaring Kenzie's sincere affection for his family, their loved ones, and others everywhere who are ``endlessly trying, like him, to find whence they really belonged. A marvelous adaptation of Shakespeareone of the best ever. -- Copyright ©1998, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

On wealthy Plantation Island in South Florida, an old man waits. Kenzie Maxwell is a writer, a raconteur, a rascal, an altruist, a mystic -- a charismatic figure who enjoys life with his rich third wife but muses daily on the sins of his past. Two decades ago, Kenzie had to leave New York because of a scandal. He'd been a volunteer at a runaway shelter, and he'd fallen deeply in love with a 17-year-old girl -- a girl who died while giving birth to Kenzie's daughter. His older brother, Dalton, a lawyer and board member at the shelter, decided to quell the rumors by releasing Kenzie's note of apology to the press. Kenzie's reputation -- and the girl's - were destroyed. He has never forgiven his brother. Now it's the eve of Kenzie's 70th birthday, and a storm is brewing. His beloved daughter, Bree -- the child of the scandal -- is coming down from New York for his birthday party. But his brother Dalton is coming down, too, to do some legal work for the island's ill-tempered matriarch. Aided and abetted by Dalton's happy-go-lucky stepson, a loutish gardener, a New Age windsurfer, a bumbling bishop, and a bona fide tempest, Kenzie must somehow contrive to reconcile with his brother -- and make peace with his past.

FROM THE CRITICS

Ft. Worth Morning Star Telegram

THE STORM is nothing less than a modern paraphrase of Shakespeare's The Tempset; and it is entirely wonderful.

San Diego Reader

For all its charm and lilt, THE STORM, like any among Buechner's best novels, cannot be taken lightly.

Ruth Coughlin - The New York Times Book Review

...[Reinterprets] "The Tempest" by casting Shakespeare's drama as a contemporary tale of redemption.

Ruth Coughlin - The New York Times Book Review

...[Reinterprets] "The Tempest" by casting Shakespeare's drama as a contemporary tale of redemption.

Joyce Irvine - Parabola

...[E]nchanting....The novel works on several levels. It can be taken simply as [a] story of human relationships in today's fragmented world....[L]ike the play, it has mysterious depths beneath the surface....fresh and readable...Read all 6 "From The Critics" >

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