An exquisitely nuanced mix of bleak humor and heartrending drama.
A middle-aged couple contends with dementia.
One day, Addie’s husband comes home and tells her, “You look like my wife, but you are not my wife.” Then he adds, “My wife is prettier than you are.” This pronouncement comes as one in a long line of increasingly erratic behaviors for Leo: What begins with hallucinations leads inexorably to stabbing his nephew with a kitchen knife. Kirshenbaum’s latest novel, which features the same irresistibly bittersweet dry wit as her others, follows Addie’s journey alongside Leo to understanding what’s gone wrong with his mind. It takes them nearly two years to reach a diagnosis: Leo has early-onset Lewy body dementia. In short, vignettelike chapters written in the second person, Kirshenbaum traces Addie’s increasing social isolation, her financial worries, and the many, many different shades of feeling she has for Leo, whom she adores, resents, and misses even as he is (technically) still with her. Kirshenbaum’s use of the second person is so seamless it’s easy to forget about it completely; as a reader, you simply hop into Addie’s shoes and carry on. And if the storyline occasionally sags, that seems to be part of the point: Kirshenbaum is meticulously mapping a segment of life so often stigmatized and associated with shame. At one point, Addie finally tells her best friend, Z, just how bad it’s gotten with Leo. Z’s response is devastating: First he tells Addie how sorry he is, and when she asks why, he says, “Everyone will be talking about how pathetic [Leo] is, and they will pity you and avoid you. No one wants to be around that.” Kirshenbaum’s book is the precise opposite.
An exquisitely nuanced mix of bleak humor and heartrending drama.Pub Date: March 25, 2025
ISBN: 9781641294683
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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
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