An impressive set of golf tales that features well-developed characters.
Elasky presents a collection of stories centered on the culture of golfing.
A yip is an involuntary wrist twitch that can negatively affect a golf game’s outcome—a term popularized by Scottish golf champion Tommy Armour. In Elasky’s collection of 10 tales, such misfires may be cosmically induced or psychologically triggered. In the tender opener, “Marlena’s Debut,” overprotective wine purveyor Fred consoles his 32-year-old friend Marlena Fissel, whose husband Frank just left her for another woman. At the country club where they golf, she considers lifechanging decisions, such as joining a nudist resort, getting cosmetic surgery, and trying to “Hook a big one before our dues run out.” Fred, meanwhile, sees an opportunity to act on his lifelong crush on Marlena. In “The Breaks,” a struggling songwriter, mountain cabin-dweller, and amateur golfer laments an encroaching new development on his hillside but changes his outlook when a singer expresses interest in some his songs. Elasky’s dynamic golf-story collection never becomes repetitive, thanks to his ability to amusingly touch on several genres. A whimsical and entertaining Sherlock Holmes spoof, “The Mystery of the Disappearing Duck-Hooks,” is set on an English fairway where the good detective, battling cocaine withdrawal, investigates why golf balls are disappearing into a green’s leafy vale; this time around, however, his ever-present companion Dr. Watson steals the show. Lovers of creative SF will appreciate the author’s worldbuilding talents in futuristic tales such as “The Immortals” or the title story, as well as in the silly, circuitous satire of “Balls,” which details the discovery of a long-buried green on the planet Dilapidees.
The author adventurously nods to the memoir genre in the cross-cultural splendor of “In the Shadow of Bhujanga,” in which an intrepid explorer chronicles how, in the early 1950s, he courageously introduced the sport of golf to a ruler of a kingdom in “one of the most isolated corners of this planet.” The collection also features the lengthy Northern California-set “The Cult of Golf and Sex,” which follows a sect that promotes the intersection of golf and intercourse. With an inventive backstory, discourse about what “The Yips” means, and memorable characters, such as Guru Virgil and Pilgrim Tim, this story forms an ideally inspired, energetic, and imaginative center to an inventive, triumphant volume. The joyful appeal of Elasky’s tales lies in their wide-ranging themes, as well as in the author’s reliable storytelling skills: Characters continuously relate realistic dialogue in stories with vivid imagery, which makes scenes and exchanges creative and believable. Some pieces, such as the standout opening love story, include golfing as an afterthought, but readers won’t mind as Elasky presents engrossing storylines about life, love, longing, and loyalty. In tales that put greens, golf balls, driving instructions, and lush resorts in the forefront, the author provides rich atmosphere for his dramatically enchanting yarns. Overall, lovers of character-driven sketches—especially those who play golf—are likely to find this collection to be uplifting and immensely entertaining.
An impressive set of golf tales that features well-developed characters.Pub Date: Jan. 5, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 11, 2023
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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