An often moving story of uncertainty and loss.
In this new novel, a woman’s everyday life crackles with anxiety as an arsonist terrorizes her neighborhood.
For Zoë Penney, potential misfortune is always crowding at the periphery of daily experience. Someone has been prowling her Northwest town and setting fires all fall, and every snapping twig seems to signal the threat of new conflagration: “There was a humming in the air if you listened for it,” she ruminates, “a pressure behind the eyes you couldn’t rub away—a barely suspended sense of danger.” The novel initially appears to bear the hallmarks of a thriller—lurking shadows, a mysterious new neighbor, an ominous recurring nightmare—but before long, it becomes clear that there will be no climactic reveal of a vicious villain, no final-hour plot twists. The villain in this story is effectively nothing other than mortality itself, and its methods are mundane: illness, old age, accidents. Still, the events of the story are no less affecting for being familiar. As Zoë’s husband, Jay Penney, navigates treatments for testicular cancer and family pets face a litany of ailments, dread and grief saturate the atmosphere of their cozy house, and attention to external threats gradually fades in favor of more intimate concerns. It is the turn of the millennium, and although the computers have survived the threat of Y2K, Zoë’s peace of mind has not: “The year had safely turned and the only apocalypse now was this one.” At times, it can feel as if various story elements—including a terminally ill loved one and a dying dog—have been algorithmically designed to tug at readers’ heartstrings. However, Zoë’s interiority is rendered with earnest care. As her anxious vigilance begins to loosen into something like acceptance of the unknown, readers are treated to a poignant story of tenuous growth amid catastrophes.
An often moving story of uncertainty and loss.Pub Date: May 9, 2023
ISBN: 9781647424244
Page Count: 336
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
I Who Have Never Known Men ($22.00; May 1997; 224 pp.; 1-888363-43-6): In this futuristic fantasy (which is immediately reminiscent of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale), the nameless narrator passes from her adolescent captivity among women who are kept in underground cages following some unspecified global catastrophe, to a life as, apparently, the last woman on earth. The material is stretched thin, but Harpman's eye for detail and command of tone (effectively translated from the French original) give powerful credibility to her portrayal of a human tabula rasa gradually acquiring a fragmentary comprehension of the phenomena of life and loving, and a moving plangency to her muted cri de coeur (``I am the sterile offspring of a race about which I know nothing, not even whether it has become extinct'').
Pub Date: May 1, 1997
ISBN: 1-888363-43-6
Page Count: 224
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 1997
BOOK REVIEW
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.
A young man helps the living and dead meet one last time under the full moon.
Japanese bestseller Tsujimura’s quiet novel follows a mysterious teenager known as the go-between, who can set up meetings between the living and the dead. An introverted woman wants to meet the television star with whom she has a parasocial relationship. A cynical eldest son hopes to visit his mother about their family business. A devastated high schooler fears she is responsible for her friend’s tragic death. And, finally, a middle-aged workaholic finally feels ready to find out if his fiancée, who disappeared seven years ago, is dead. Each character has a uniquely personal reason for seeking out the deceased, including closure and forgiveness, as well as selfishness and fear. Imbued with magic and the perfect amount of gravitas, there are many rules around these meetings: Only the living can make requests and they can only have one meeting per lifetime. Additionally, the dead can deny a meeting—and, most importantly, once the dead person has met with a living person, they will be gone forever. With secrets shared, confessions made, and regrets cemented, these meetings lead to joy and sorrow in equal measure. In the final chapter, all of these visits—and their importance in the go-between’s life—begin to gracefully converge. As we learn the go-between’s identity, we watch him struggle with the magnitude and gravity of his work. At one point, he asks: “When a life was lost, who did it belong to? What were those left behind meant to do with the incomprehensible, inescapable loss?” Though the story can be repetitive, Tsujimura raises poignant and powerful questions about what the living owe not only the dead, but each other; and how we make peace with others and ourselves in the wake of overwhelming grief.
A touching novel about loss with a magical and mystical flourish.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9781668099834
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Scribner
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2025
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
