An intriguing but slow-moving emotional drama.
In this novel, a young woman wrestles with the death of her older brother and gets lost in a shapeless ennui.
Eleanor Lihte encounters tragedy as a young girl—her older brother, Jamie, dies in a car accident when he is only 18 years old. As a result, her own life becomes entrapped in a state of permanent shiftlessness—she is overcome by boredom and an aching loneliness. Her family manages the tragedy through a studied silence and, in the case of her mother, a cruel incomprehension and lack of empathy for Eleanor’s own suffering: “You’ve always been such a sweet girl. I don’t understand why things have been so hard for you.” When Eleanor is not working as a lifeguard, an uninspiring job—she and her peers are “more like seminude janitors than heroes”—she spends her time sewing and crying. She finally musters enough energy to move from California to Arizona in order to study to become a teacher, but she continues to find the purpose of existence bewildering and to feel that her life is a failure. Nevertheless, Eleanor is reluctant to return to her “tiny homeland, the world of limited possibilities she knew,” and seeks out counsel from various figures, including a born-again spiritual guru, a psychic, and, finally, a therapist.
Toy intelligently conveys Eleanor’s emotional desolation and her benumbed inability to feel pleasure. But the author’s writing sometimes strains too laboriously for lyrical heights and instead achieves a curious eccentricity: “One Sunday sitting at her roommate’s kitchen table waiting for her mother to call,” Eleanor “read a book about evolution. She was hoping to evolve—to become a scaled amphibian heading back toward the water or a bright yellow duck.” The plot is as sluggish as the protagonist—not much happens, which of course makes sense given the morbid torpor that infects Eleanor. Toy’s prose deftly captures her languor—it even parallels it—but the result is sometimes closer to a portrait of melancholy than an engaging story. Still, readers will empathize with Eleanor as she deals with a soporific lethargy. Yet sometimes that tedium is broken with gibberish. Consider this excerpt from a letter Eleanor writes to a former teacher: “I am writing not only to apologize, but to offer you the combination that will unleash the ringing sound inside my telephone. You forgot, I am sure, to ask for it. You are forgetting also, I am sure, to ask when I am coming to visit. Unfortunately, I am tied to my supply of French fries and white bread and will not be coming soon.” Eleanor finally begins to recover from her lassitude, partly as a result of therapy, and comes to grip with the human condition she previously resisted. Her ultimate revelation, though, seems a bit trite—she finds solace in recognizing that others are far more “dysfunctional” than she is.
An intriguing but slow-moving emotional drama.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-60489-301-4
Page Count: 175
Publisher: Livingston Press
Review Posted Online: Feb. 11, 2022
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 warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
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