Otherworldly tales of haunting beauty and a welcome addition to the canon of classic Russian literature in English.
Symbolist masterpiece by the writer whose work Vladimir Nabokov ranked among Russia’s greatest literary achievements.
Boris Nikolaeyvich Bugaev (1880-1934), better known by the pen name that means “Andrew the White,” was an exponent of what translator Stone calls the “short-lived utopianism” of a movement that perhaps naïvely assumed that literature can make a difference in the world. Even so, Bely’s work is marked by a deep pessimism, and if some of it foreshadows magic realism, there is always dark sorcery at work. These four “symphonies,” a cross between prose poem and novella, manifest both idealism and doom. In “Northern Symphony,” a set of short, numbered paragraphs resembling a kind of syllogism, he writes, with foreboding. “1. Big as the mountains, the houses bristled and swaggered like overfed swine. / 2. To the timid pedestrian they winked with their countless windows, turned their blind walls to him in a sign of disdain, or mocked his secret thoughts with columns of smoke.” In the second, “Dramatic,” symphony, he concludes a series with “7. The ascetic’s glowing face smiled, even though it was cold. / 8. But clouds covered the horizon. / 9. The day was extinguished like a sad candle.” It’s an extraordinary poetry, and if the conclusions don’t always follow from the premises, the overall effect suggests the power of language as a tool of enchantment and, at times, incantation. Much of these symphonies are given over to a kind of fairy tale, although a few of them speak to Bely’s interest in politics, as when he imagines a crowd of anarchists and social democrats arguing over who is more leftist: “Over tea they threw verbal bombs,” Bely writes in a mashup of Marx and Lewis Carroll, “expropriating other people’s thoughts.” The sole shortcoming of the book are its too-scanty notes, though the ones that are there speak to telling facets of Bely’s method, such as his naming characters after birds, which would not be apparent to the reader without Russian.
Otherworldly tales of haunting beauty and a welcome addition to the canon of classic Russian literature in English.Pub Date: Nov. 2, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-231-19909-4
Page Count: 512
Publisher: Columbia Univ.
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
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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