Exemplary storytelling that grapples with important themes.
LaBrie’s collection of misanthropic short stories offers meditations on death, dying, grief, and organ donation.
These stories contemplate and analyze the human condition from a somewhat depressive perspective. The author speaks to a variety of contemporary topics, from the perils of dating and loneliness (as in “The Double Negative Boyfriend,” “I Know What You Want to Do,” and “Advice to the Love Loin”) to melancholic interpretations of topics such as motherhood (“Feral”) and body image (“Pygmalion, Before and After: A Weight Loss Journey”), to contemporary human-pet relationships (“Feral,” “Animal Shelter,” and “How to get rid of an elderly dog”). Each story is deliciously heartbreaking and rich in lonesome imagery; most captivating is a too-brief series of seemingly related, though never explicitly linked, tales exploring the experiences of nurses, grieving families, and transplant coordinators. The first in the sequence is “What We Learned,” which details a list of more granular tasks expected of nurses (“how to start a catheter, how to handle hypothermia to avoid amputation, how to stay alert with handsy doctors, how to buy work shoes that won’t raise blisters on your heels, how to nap while standing”). This list evolves and overflows into “Rage,” in which a nurse at an eating disorder clinic must cope with the stress of working with profoundly ill patients, and rein in her tendency toward anger and gallows humor. The end describes an altercation between the protagonist and an unstable man on a subway car; the book seamlessly transitions into “The Eyes Stay,” a story told from the perspective of a grieving mother whose son has just passed from traumatic brain injury. The focus effectively shifts to the transplant coordinator and her compatriots in the following two stories. Though brief, this segment of the book shines as a compelling glimpse into medical care, mortality, and the grieving process: It’s cathartic while maintaining LaBrie’s characteristic wit and irony.
Exemplary storytelling that grapples with important themes.Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9781948585927
Page Count: 208
Publisher: Leapfrog Press
Review Posted Online: May 24, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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