An enjoyable trip back in time with two fascinating people from politics and letters that rings true historically.
Pizzo’s novella re-creates a day in Provincetown, Massachusetts, when Jackie Kennedy visited writer Gore Vidal.
Based on a paragraph from a 1961 newspaper, this short novel imagines a moment in history when the First Lady took the day off and met novelist and essayist Gore Vidal at his hotel in Provincetown. They were already friends, and also relatives, as they shared a stepfather. Gore was born at West Point and had a senator grandfather while Jackie was raised in polite Manhattan society and the Merrywood Estate in Virginia before attending Vassar. If America has landed gentry, they were members of it, though both characters come across as possible proponents of egalitarianism. Importantly, this day comes two years before Gore wrote a critical piece about Robert F. Kennedy in Esquire, after which Jackie never spoke to him again. In Provincetown, Jackie and Gore stroll to town and have a seafood pasta dinner. They discuss the White House renovations, the Kennedys’ meeting with Khrushchev (“Do you know Khrushchev sent the children a puppy?”), and a dinner at Versailles with Charles de Gaulle. For his part, Gore reminisces about family friend Amelia Earhart and talks about his current chums, such as Tennessee Williams. Between the two of them, they seem to know everyone, and the cool sophistication they possess comes across as refreshing rather than snobbish. For Jackie, this was a fun day away from the kids, while for Gore it was possibly his final encounter with Jackie before being shut out completely. Pizzo’s story, built around a single news item, is heavily researched and told in a way that seems more than plausible. Great care was taken to convey what Jackie’s early history and life at that time were like, and the voice used for her thoughts is convincing. Less time is spent on Gore, but the author deftly captures his lofty intellectualism, catty wit, and dislike of Truman Capote. Both were from privileged backgrounds but still had their problems, and reading about each in the company of a close friend is intriguing.
An enjoyable trip back in time with two fascinating people from politics and letters that rings true historically.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 9798574942581
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 31, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.
A woman faces a health crisis and obsesses over a local accident in this wonderful follow-up to Sandwich (2024).
Newman begins her latest with a quote from Nora Ephron: “Death is a sniper. It strikes people you love, people you like, people you know—it’s everywhere. You could be next. But then you turn out not to be. But then again, you could be.” It sets an appropriate tone for a story that is just as full of death and dread as it is laughter. Two years after the events of Sandwich, Rocky is back home in Western Massachusetts and happily surrounded by family—her daughter, Willa, lives with her and her husband, Nick, while applying to Ph.D. programs; her widowed father, Mort, has moved into the in-law apartment behind their house. When a young man who graduated from high school with Rocky’s son, Jamie, is hit by a train, Rocky finds herself spiraling as she thinks about how close the tragedy came to her own family. She’s also freaking out about a mysterious rash her dermatologist can’t explain. Both instances are tailor-made for internet research and stalking. As Rocky obsessively googles her symptoms and finds only bad news (“Here’s what’s true about the Internet: very infrequently do people log on with their good news. Gosh, they don’t write, I had this weird rash on my forearm? And it turned out to be completely nothing!”), she also compulsively checks the Facebook page of the accident victim’s mother. Newman excels at showing how sorrow and joy coexist in everyday life. She masterfully balances a modern exploration of grief with truly laugh-out-loud lines (one passage about the absurdity of collecting a stool sample and delivering it to the doctor stands out). As Rocky deals with the byzantine frustrations of the medical system, she also has to learn, once more, how to see her children, husband, father, and herself as fully flawed and lovable humans.
A heartbreaking, laugh-provoking, and absolutely Ephron-esque look at the beauty and fragility of everyday life.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9780063453913
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
PERSPECTIVES
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