Rambunctious from the get-go, this zany tale still has plenty of lessons to teach.
A debut road novel offers a coming-of-age tale.
It is August 1999, and 21-year-old Chaz Chase is on the road. With his 1959 Cadillac convertible he calls Pam Grier, a fedora, and a trunkload of unwanted screenplays (among other items), he calls the American highway home. His sidekick is a talking pit bull (only Chaz can hear him) named Max. Max was a Hollywood director in a previous life, and he loves to expound on the cinema of old (The Lady From Shanghai is just one of the many black-and-white movies mentioned). While on the road, man and dog talk about films and life and trade friendly insults (Max tells Chaz: “You sing as well as you write,” and he doesn’t mean that as a compliment). Where exactly are they headed? As Chaz explains at one point, he is “just wandering around trying to find myself. But I’m proving to be very illusive.” Chaz is also “processing” his divorce and coming to terms with a number of issues from his past. He reflects on things like how he used to set things on fire and his outlandish valedictorian speech. In this process of finding himself, Chaz also discovers a girl named Clitty. Clitty is just as outrageous as her name would suggest. The two form quite a pair, but is she the one Chaz is looking for? How will she react when he explains the true, darker reason he has embraced a nomadic lifestyle?
A story starring a young man with a fedora, a chatty dog, and an affection for a girl named Clitty has all the makings of a bonkers adventure. This is exactly what Kline’s narrative proves to be. The pages overflow with one-liners and silly wordplay. When Chaz spies a “No Cow Tipping!” sign, he wonders: “How much do you tip a cow? Twenty percent?” There are gags about turds, piss, and a man with three testicles. Things are made more absurd when the first-person narrative occasionally gives way to a screenplay format. Though the humor may not always prove to be sidesplitting, the mood is kept light enough for readers to take an interest in this oddball hero. But the book is at its best when venturing into more earnest material. At one point, Chaz makes a trip to visit his aging father in Santa Cruz, California. As much as the scene could be played for laughs, it is striking to see their strained relationship in action. Ultimately, underneath the fedora is a man trying to find his place in a tough world. And as much as the story talks about dog pee and Max’s advice to “Grab life by the throat and spit in its face,” the final pages end on a serious, if completely wacky, note about the precious, ephemeral nature of existence. It turns out a goofy fellow and his talking pooch provide as good a reason as any to consider what it means to be alive.
Rambunctious from the get-go, this zany tale still has plenty of lessons to teach. (appendix)Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 294
Publisher: Livingston Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 12, 2021
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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