A trippy tale packed with high-tech inventions and old-school mystery that feels like a wildly captivating video game.
In Mathison’s novel, a man endeavors to secure his inheritance from a mysterious uncle while exploring the old man’s sprawling English estate and questioning the very nature of reality.
Kris Robinson embarks on an epic journey when, in an effort to explore his alternative selves, he consumes high-tech drugs that cause temporary amnesia. As the voices in his head (which call themselves the “Storytellers” and guide him on his psychedelic journey) say, “Imagine—a sip, a swallow, and voilà! A tabula rasa!” After this brief glimpse into the perhaps not-too-distant future, the book switches to a second-person perspective, and the rest of the novel takes on a distinct video-game aspect as readers navigate the strange proceedings from Kris’ vantage point. Kris receives a letter from a mysterious uncle, Arthur Hanover, asking him to come to his English estate to claim his inheritance, but readers will feel as though they’re the ones going through the motions: “Standing there is a courier asking you to sign for a packet. What in the world? The packet has come from ‘Allensby, Bixby, Crosby & Sons & Daughters, Barristers and Solicitors’ from a town in England you’ve never heard of.” From there, readers are launched into an intriguing mansion-set mystery as Kris travels to England and meets a cast of colorful characters (including a devious head butler and the housekeeper’s friendly grandson) while trying to uncover the mystery of his long lost “uncle”…and the meaning of existence itself. The “Storyteller” voices occasionally pop in to hint at solutions for both Kris and readers as the protagonist is repeatedly pulled out of one reality and into another. Mind-bending scenes (such as lavish dinner parties that devolve into intense competitions and an impromptu disco party) ultimately make the narrative feel like the literary version of a Black Mirror TV episode. The novel is based on a DVD adventure game that the author made in the late 1990s, which perhaps accounts for its immersive feel. Occasionally confusing, always entertaining, and undeniably fun, Mathison’s yarn is a truly unique reading experience.
A trippy tale packed with high-tech inventions and old-school mystery that feels like a wildly captivating video game.Pub Date: Jan. 23, 2024
ISBN: 9798886451238
Page Count: 472
Publisher: Greenleaf Book Group Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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