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SAINT NASHVILLE

A poignant poetic depiction of life in the South.

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Darlington explores the memories, sounds, and culture of a booze-soaked Nashville in this themed poetry collection.

The book opens with an untitled scene that features a dance floor under “honky-tonk lights,” a waitress who was once the speaker’s wife, and memories of “how we’d sing / out our guts.” Another nameless poem about a particular youthful summer evokes dripping ice cream cones, scuffed knees, and small fires. In “My Guitar,” a speaker recalls a sensual rendezvous in a woodcutter’s house. “My Heart Is Not Yet a House” contemplates the complicated nature of being part of a couple, and in a songlike work, the poet explores the Nashville sound: “It’s empty beds, broken homes, long illness and lost love/ It’s struggle with substance stuck on mean like a glove / It’s moms and dads who no longer come around.” Another untitled poem mourns the modernization of Nashville and people’s ignorance of the city’s country music history. Later, a speaker wonders, “What comes after we are young and no longer drinking?” Darlington arouses all five senses throughout this collection, and his economy of language is also impressive; in as few as five brief lines, he can capture an intimate snapshot of a couple: “let’s lie here together / a little longer / and give this endless / summer song / another listen.” The poet uses masterful metaphors and similes throughout this collection, as when he describes a man “as lonely as the sound of a backdoor slapping” and a singing voice that’s sweet “like the dry creek bed flooded with syrup.” These poems are both vulnerable and melancholy, and they manage to tap into the bittersweet nostalgia of a beloved time and place that is ultimately fleeting. Darlington effectively plays with form throughout, although one can’t help but wish there were audio accompaniment to these highly musical works.

A poignant poetic depiction of life in the South.

Pub Date: N/A

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: 49

Publisher: Manuscript

Review Posted Online: June 20, 2023

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THE WOMEN

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

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A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

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IT STARTS WITH US

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

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The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.

Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.

Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.

Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022

ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6

Page Count: 352

Publisher: Atria

Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022

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