An intense novella of ideas that looks into the heart of faith and generosity.
Strassberg presents a brief fantasy novella about discussions in a psychiatric hospital between two men who resemble Jesus Christ and Santa Claus.
In this short, somewhat whimsical tale, two very different men meet in a ward for patients with mental illness: a short Jewish man named Josh with a brown beard, and Nick,a big-bellied fellow with white whiskers. Josh was just committed by paramedics because he was found wandering in traffic after breaking up with his boyfriend; Nick is the former CEO of Myra Toys who used to travel frequently on business (“I basically lived my life out of a big red sack,” he says, in one of Strassberg’s many winks at the reader. “I must have carried that bag over my shoulder forever”). Both men find themselves in the ward during the Christmas season, and they initially find themselves in conflict as they fall into arguments about metaphysics in the common rooms. Josh is spiritual and empathetic, assuring Nick that “God doesn’t want our independence; he wants our interdependence.” Nick, guessing that Josh is an unhoused person, is sharply intolerant at first: “I know if you’ve been bad or good, and you’ve all been bad,” he rumbles. “My tax dollars go to pay for the land where you illegally squat in your tents.” In the slow, skillful development of the relationship between these two men, Strassberg plays on the initial gimmick of having Jesus and Santa analogues meet, and steadily broadens the story into a more ambitious meeting of the minds, drawing on elements of philosophy. Nick is predictably jolly, but Strassberg’s greatest creation is Josh, who prays only for “an ordinary mortal life” and is the source of most of this slim book’s most memorable passages: “Perfection is the enemy of the good, but for me, I’ve met perfection,” he complains at one point. “And perfection has met me and just won’t leave me alone.” Very little happens in the book other than these verbal encounters, but readers will be too interested to notice.
An intense novella of ideas that looks into the heart of faith and generosity.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2024
ISBN: 9798337610870
Page Count: 95
Publisher: Nat 1 Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 21, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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