A lively, if slightly shapeless, novel of Windy City life.
Allen’s debut novel follows a teenage boy and a priest with a shadowy past through a Chicago neighborhood in flux.
On the South Side of Chicago in 1970, Gary “Weezer” O’Donnell is just a kid, but he feels as if he’s on the cusp of manhood. It’s the summer after seventh grade, and he resolves that he’s done with childish things—so much so, in fact, that he maliciously tells his young friend that there’s no such thing as Santa Claus during a street hockey game. Father Tom Mallon is a 30-something priest from the neighborhood who has a troubled past; his former life as a gambler casts a shadow over his present, as his parishes have had a habit of unexpectedly coming up short on funds. Tensions are rising in the all-White neighborhood, as a local group of neo-Nazis, whom Weezer immediately distrusts, makes some racist residents willing to resort to violence to maintain the segregated status quo. As Tom grapples with his complicated past, Weezer attempts to navigate his confusing present, which is leading him down a potentially dangerous path. Allen’s enthusiastic prose skillfully captures the setting’s variety and drama, as when Weezer takes in the people at a White Sox game: “There were couples on dates, families, groups of boys and girls by themselves, old wrinkly men in straw hats….These were people that Weezer didn’t see in his neighborhood….He wanted to walk up to the old man in the straw hat and ask him, where was he from?” The plot is episodic, bouncing back and forth between Weezer and Tom and between the 1970s of the present and the 1950s of Tom’s youth. Although the book captures something of the feel of the neighborhood at the time, readers may wish for a more unified story. Overall, Weezer’s and Tom’s narratives feel cobbled together somewhat arbitrarily, and it’s not entirely clear why they’ve been paired together. Still, Chicagoans, in particular, are sure to enjoy aspects of this slice-of-life work.
A lively, if slightly shapeless, novel of Windy City life.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 206
Publisher: Purpletooth Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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