My Big Fat Greek Coming-of-Age Novel, narrated by one of the great teenage curmudgeons of recent literature.
In mid-1970s London, a young woman talks to her posters of Marc Bolan and David Bowie about her plans to murder her father.
Kadis’ delightfully original debut novel is narrated by mordant misfit Constance Costa, aka “The Half Greek Imprisoned Daughter of The Fat Murderer.” Her father has earned his moniker by virtue of a car accident that killed Connie’s mother and two younger brothers. Now the two remaining family members are stuck with each other, all the more miserably since George Costa uses violent punishment to control his daughter’s behavior. As she confides to the poster of Marc Bolan on her bedroom wall, “The Autumn Term Disco is one week away. I just want to be there, like a normal [almost] fifteen-year-old…and that unreasonable lunatic won’t let me.” She receives a reply: “Hm, I’d say being a lunatic and being unreasonable tend to go hand in hand”—but this, Connie fumes, “wasn’t Marc. It’s bloody David Bowie. David could be snitty and obscure and couldn’t resist sticking his beak into everyone else’s business.” While the Fat Murderer prevents her from attending the disco, he requires weekly attendance at Friday night community gatherings known as Greek Night (aka Freak Night), the only upside of which is that she gets “to see the one person in [her] life who didn’t make [her] want to vomit.” Vasos Petrides is an almond-eyed dreamboat who “had shown [her] his penis for the first time when [they] were seven”; the pair continues to explore the possibilities of romance. There’s also Auntie Roulla, who is not only aware of the Fat Murderer’s abuse but also suspects an even more horrible secret. There hasn’t been a novel this funny that contains an abuse plot since early Edward St. Aubyn, who’s a contemporary of Kadis, debuting in her 60s after a career in music journalism. She certainly hasn’t lost her grip on what it’s like to be 15: The way she keeps the darkest parts of the book burning hot behind Connie’s jokes, lists, nicknames, and wisecracks is both creatively daring and perfectly evocative of the melodramatic emotional shitshow that is adolescence.
My Big Fat Greek Coming-of-Age Novel, narrated by one of the great teenage curmudgeons of recent literature.Pub Date: March 10, 2026
ISBN: 9798217153794
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.
With only a month left until the world ends due to a swiftly approaching black hole, Don and Rodney, a retired gay couple, road-trip from Maine to Washington to spend their final days with their son.
After reports that a planet-swallowing black hole is making its way toward Earth, Rodney and Don—who have been together for 40 years and survived everything from homophobia to the HIV crisis—decide to pack their belongings into an RV, say goodbye to their neighbors, and travel from Camden, Maine, to Washington to uphold a promise to spend their final days with their son. They can’t wait any longer, since there’s already chaos around the country: “Military vehicles in the streets of most cities and towns. Looting, rioting, the burning of cars and buildings and people, all of it had already happened.” As they make their way west across the country, they encounter fellow travelers ranging from close-knit families to free-spirited hippies, some of whom have come to terms with the impending end of the world and others who haven’t. While the story seems to be asking readers what they would do if they had 30 days left to live, and reflects on what different kinds of acceptance might look like in the face of unavoidable tragedy, it loses some of its poignancy in a series of thinly padded monologues about the meaning of life. Clearly intended to pack an emotional punch, it’s failed by an abrupt ending, and the way the journey’s mystery—which will be obvious to many readers—is revealed by an info dump in the last chapter.
An existential crisis that steps on its own final moments.Pub Date: April 28, 2026
ISBN: 9781250881236
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2026
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