An authentic and poignant depiction of the complex, contradictory relationships among family members.
An aging writer in love with his neighbor traces the stories of her family back for decades.
Peter “Z” Zemeckis won the National Book Award back in 1997, but when readers meet him in 2012, he has eased his way into retirement and irrelevance. He’s about to fulfill the purpose of the little blue pill he swallowed earlier in the night when his date is interrupted by his neighbor and “unrequited love,” Nancy Chu, who asks to borrow his car to rescue her daughter, Charlotte, from a bad situation at a bar. Fascinated with tracing the history of Nancy’s family, Z rewinds to 1977 and the story of Amy, a teenage barrel-racing champion in Amarillo, Texas, whose pregnancy scare forces her to re-evaluate her priorities. “A baby fell out of thin air and she had to let go of everything to make sure she could catch it. Maybe she didn’t want to pick all that stuff back up.” Then it’s off to 1986 and Chinese immigrant Zhiyu, who painstakingly cooks a duck in preparation for dinner with his daughter, our Nancy, and her new boyfriend, Eric. In 2001, Eric and Nancy divorce and Nancy chooses her high-powered career at IBM, leaving Eric, a physics professor, to raise their 12-year-old daughter, Charlotte, alone (that is, if you don’t count the occasional help from his new girlfriend, Amy). Rogers crafts a richly textured vision of everyday life as he explores the ways the bonds of family stretch and collapse over generations. His characters struggle with questions about what it means to be a spouse, a parent, a daughter. In one of several physics metaphors, Z explains that “radioactive atoms also have ‘daughters.’ Parent atoms expend their energy in waves until eventually decaying into different elements altogether.…Why? Because. Just the way of the universe. But ask any father, and he’ll probably tell you: that’s just fine with him.” Rogers is at his best in the details, grounding characters with tidbits like Amy naming her horse Patton “after the American general. Not the actual general. The one from the movie.” The prose, funneled through Z’s narration, never drags; the bungalow where Eric and Charlotte live post-divorce is described as having “the aspect of a man who isn’t growing a beard so much as not shaving.”
An authentic and poignant depiction of the complex, contradictory relationships among family members.Pub Date: Nov. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9781647792015
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Univ. of Nevada
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
© Copyright 2026 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.
