Kimmel, Haven (Koontz) 1965-

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KIMMEL, Haven (Koontz) 1965-

PERSONAL: Born 1965, in Mooreland, IN; married and divorced three times; children: (first marriage) Katie; (third marriage) Obidiah. Education: Ball State University, B.A. (English and creative writing); attended North Carolina State University and Earlham School of Religion.

ADDRESSES: Home—Durham, NC. Agent—c/o Author Mail, Simon and Schuster, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.

CAREER: Writer.

WRITINGS:

A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana (memoir), Doubleday (New York, NY), 2001.

The Solace of Leaving Early (novel), Doubleday (New York, NY), 2002.

Orville: A Dog Story (juvenile fiction), illustrated by Robert Andrew Parker, Clarion Books (New York, NY), 2003.

Something Rising (Light and Swift) (novel), Free Press (New York, NY), 2004.

ADAPTATIONS: The Solace of Leaving Early is being made into a film directed by Mike Nichols.

SIDELIGHTS: Haven Kimmel made news on the literary scene in 2001 with her first book, a best-selling memoir titled A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana. According to Karen Valby in Entertainment Weekly, Kimmel "started tapping out stories on a hand-me-down Royal typewriter when she was nine and soon after announced to the unimpressed neighbors her intention of becoming a poet." Years later, as recounted in her memoir and quoted by Entertainment Weekly contributor Lisa Levy, Kimmel recalled that she still received little support when she told her older sister that she was going to write about her hometown. Her sister replied, "I know who might read such a book. A person lying in a hospital bed with no television and no roommate … and then here comes a candy striper with a squeaky library cart and on that car there is only one book—or maybe two books: yours, and Cooking with Pork."

Kimmel proved her sister wrong. Writing about growing up in her hometown of Mooreland, Indiana, she provides a loving and comical view of the small town where almost everyone knows everyone else and an observant little girl learns about almost every aspect of a town's life. Writing in Library Journal, Pam Kingsbury commented, "Her story is filled with good humor, fine storytelling, and acute observations of small town life." Mary Carroll noted in Booklist that "Kimmel's childhood memoir rings true." Carroll also commented that the book is "a simple, poignant memoir, [which] reads like fine historical fiction." A Publishers Weekly contributor said that "Kimmel's smooth, impeccably humorous prose evokes her childhood as vividly as any novel."

Kimmel turned to fiction for her next book, The Solace of Leaving Early, but once again focuses on small-town life in the story of Langston Braverman and her return to Haddington, Indiana. Langston has left behind her career in academia and soon becomes involved in the lives of Immaculata and Epiphany, two little girls who have witnessed a murder. Langston also develops a romance with a local minister, Amos Townsend, whose philosophical musings are out of step with his congregation but who is also interested in helping the two scarred girls. A Kirkus Reviews contributor called Kimmel's debut novel "over-wrought." However, other reviewers praised the book, including Colleen Lougen, who noted in Library Journal that the author "draws remarkable characters out of ordinary, small-town America." Lougen also called the dialog "clever and sleek." A Publishers Weekly contributor found that the novel was "hindered somewhat by the sluggish pace in the early going" but went on to note that Kimmel "proves a wise, compassionate and often very witty storyteller."

In Orville: A Dog Story, Kimmel writes for a younger audience in the picture-book story about a large, ugly stray dog who is taken in by a farmer and his wife but ends up chained to the barn. Orville barks incessantly to show his dismay and finally finds solace when a little girl moves into the house across the road. Orville falls in love with the new neighbor and begins breaking his chain so he can cross the road to visit with her. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that "the enigmatic conclusion hints that each character has broken free of some sort of chain to connect with others." Deborah Stevenson praised the book in Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, noting that Kimmel's "taste for well-grounded detail and compact description combines with a gentleness about people (and dogs) and their inner lives, making this a poetic but solidly vivid tale."

For her second adult novel, Something Rising (Light and Swift), Kimmel spent many afternoons in a local pool hall conducting research for her story about Cassie Claiborne. A troubled teenager from a dysfunctional family, Cassie finds solace in a pool hall, where she can focus on developing her skills and earn extra money to help support her mother and sisters, who were abandoned by Cassie's father. The novel builds towards a climactic competition of nine-ball between Cassie and her father, a pool shark who first taught Cassie how to play. New York Times Book Review contributor Mark Kamine commented, "The father-daughter competition is effective and unusual, but is insufficient to redeem this meandering novel." But Kristine Huntley, writing in Booklist, praised the novel, calling it "a beautiful coming-of-age story." Malcom Jones commented in Newsweek that there "are things to quibble with in this novel" but went on to add that "the good things so outweigh the bad that you feel guilty about complaining."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

books

Kimmel, Haven, A Girl Named Zippy: Growing up Small in Mooreland, Indiana, Doubleday (New York, NY), 2001.

periodicals

Atlanta Journal-Constitution, August 11, 2002, David Kirby, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. F4.

Booklist, March 15, 2001, Mary Carroll, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 1351; Kristine Huntley, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 1684; September 15, 2003, Hazel Rochman, review of Orville: A Dog Story, p. 246; October 15, 2003, Huntley, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 357.

Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, November, 2003, Deborah Stevenson, review of Orville, p. 111.

Entertainment Weekly, March 23, 2001, Lisa Levy, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 107; January 23, 2004, Allyssa Lee, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 103; February 27, 2004, Karen Valby, "Just a Small Town Girl," p. 67.

Kirkus Reviews, May 1, 2002, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 612; September 1, 2003, review of Orville, p. 1126; October 15, 2003, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 1244.

Kliatt, November, 2003, Susan Allison, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 16.

Library Journal, February 1, 2001, Pam Kingsbury, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 103; June 1, 2002, Colleen Lougen, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 196; September 15, 2003, Judith Kicinski, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 92.

Los Angeles Times, August 7, 2002, Beverly Beyette, "A Worldview, Direct from Rural Indiana; Haven Kimmel's Novel Recalls Her Past in Exploring Love and Longing," p. E1.

Newsweek, January 26, 2004, Malcom Jones, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 59.

New York Times Book Review, February 22, 2004, Mark Kamine, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 16.

Publishers Weekly, January 15, 2001, review of A Girl Named Zippy, p. 60; May 27, 2002, review of The Solace of Leaving Early, p. 37; September 8, 2003, review of Orville, p. 76; December 8, 2003, review of Something Rising (Light and Swift), p. 46.

School Library Journal, November, 2003, Wendy Woodfill, review of Orville, p. 102.