A whirlwind novel that skillfully mixes the mundane and the absurd.
A surreal novel about one man’s oddball journey.
The unnamed narrator of this winding tale begins by explaining, “Life has become tough lately.” While driving to work, he maintains an inner monologue and notes one of his planned projects for the day. If he sees a pretty girl, he will say, “That’s a very pretty girl!” Things take a turn when he acknowledges that he has a dead man in the back seat named Ad. Ad once ventured to Canada, where a kindly farmer gave him a banyan tree seed. The farmer assured him that the seed could grow anywhere. After Ad planted the seed at home, he wound up becoming one with the resulting tree. As Ad explains it, “I died from the world you know” when he became one with the banyan. The setting soon shifts to a small village where the narrator grew up and once received advice from a holy man (“life is fickle”). Having left the village in his 20s, the narrator meets a billionaire named Hans Ray and, for a time, works for him. Later he ventures (via a spaceship) to the “dark end of the galaxy” to obtain a book from his boss. Such wild swings of events keep the reader guessing throughout this short work, which has an inviting way of blending the fantastical and the ordinary. Developments like Ad’s strange demise give way to the narrator providing an extensive rundown of the patrons and staff at a local bar. It amounts to an odd but delightfully fluid plot. The novel occasionally veers into mundane subplots, however. For instance, we learn that a bartender named Chelsea whose “mother ended up becoming a hairstylist and, with family support, led a relatively comfortable and easy life.” While such a description may not be particularly gripping, new developments are always afoot.
A whirlwind novel that skillfully mixes the mundane and the absurd.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2021
ISBN: 9781948692687
Page Count: 158
Publisher: Madville Publishing
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 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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