An imaginative, thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be truly alive.
A man sets out on a journey through a surreal landscape in search of a sense of purpose in Chouinard’s debut novel.
In a rustic cabin “at the utmost edge of the world,” a nameless man is awakened by the sunrise and steps outside in a dazed stupor. The world he encounters feels new and incomprehensible to him. Propelled by an innate desire to explore and understand his surroundings, he walks to the sea, where he experiences a moment of rapture. He later awakens on the shoreline to find a note in his pocket from “the Sentient Sage,” which suggests that there’s more to life than mere repetition of cyclical patterns. The Sage later appears to him in the form of a child, and during their conversation, the man discovers that his own name is Davis. Davis further explores his surroundings, where he encounters strange beasts, including a gigantic, talking ape. He finds his way to Inanimis, a city whose residents “have lost touch with what it truly means to be alive.” Stirrings of political unrest in the city finally allow Davis to discern his purpose. Chouinard’s prose is consistently stimulating and poses deep philosophical questions. In his descriptions of the people of Inanimis, the author holds a mirror up to the greed and shortsightedness of humankind: “They strive ever to be better than Nature, to improve upon it, in defiance of its rules. They focus solely on what they find valuable at present.” Chouinard’s unadorned style is akin to that of a parable, which may put off some readers: “he knew that he had come so soon to the point where he must decide which route he would take.” Yet fans of books such as Paulo Coelho’s The Alchemist (1988) will find satisfaction in searching for the story’s deeper meanings. Davis’ journey from being “a man with no name, thoughts, or memories” to realizing his own inner power proves compelling, and the novel’s denouement will take many by surprise.
An imaginative, thought-provoking exploration of what it means to be truly alive.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-7351679-1-6
Page Count: 342
Publisher: Storm King Studios LLC
Review Posted Online: Oct. 8, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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