A poignant and compelling narrative of a boy’s search for connection and meaning.
A boy encounters hostility and hope in Tabb’s debut coming-of-age novel.
It’s 1990 when Jack Turner returns, after a long absence, to his coastal hometown of Denton, Florida, to attend a funeral. He reflects on pivotal events in the summer of 1968, just before he turned 13. As the younger son of two alcoholics, Jack was mostly resigned to the fact that his parents neglected him. When Jack and two friends found a starving dog, he decided to adopt him on the spot, calling him Bones. He convinced his dad to let him keep the pet, but there was a high price, as his dad demanded the boy pay him rent to do so. Jack’s determined efforts to care for Bones brought him into conflict with local boys, who beat Jack up after he undercut the going rate for cleaning fish for tourist anglers. Jack was befriended by troubled World War II veteran Hank Pittman, who lived in a broken-down school bus and offered him work fixing up the bus. Hank also urged eccentric local widow Mary Jane Dawson to hire Jack to do some yardwork. Soon, however, malevolent gossips wrongfully accused Hank of abusing the boy, which led to a suspenseful trial. Tabb, a former middle and high school English teacher, grew up in the Florida Panhandle, and his depiction of that landscape lends authenticity to the small-town setting. The shadow of war hovers in the background, both in Hank’s past and in the present of Jack’s older brother, who’s away in military training. At times, the novel pits its heroes against one-dimensional villains, but Jack’s voice feels authentic throughout. Although the character’s devotion to Bones propels the action, Tabb never allows the narrative to become a sentimental boy-loves-dog story. The scenes between Jack and his father are particularly effective in revealing the desperate nature of the protagonist’s family situation. The expressive prose shines brightest, however, when it focuses on Jack’s determination to live up to the trust that Hank and Mary have placed in him.
A poignant and compelling narrative of a boy’s search for connection and meaning.Pub Date: July 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-72210-439-9
Page Count: 396
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 4, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PROFILES
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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