Three compelling, impressively crafted tales united by authenticity and grace.
Novelist and practicing attorney Flanigan’s debut story collection ably depicts ordinary people making the best of bad circumstances.
In the leading story, “Some Cold War Blues,” good-natured 11-year-old Jack lives at the mercy of a hostile, hard-drinking stepfather—a man “as black and stony and desiccated as cinders”—and his distant mother. His cursed childhood seems soothed only by the swearwords he learns from his pal Rex Jefferson and outdoor time spent with his buddies. But what begins as an epic neighborhood snowball fight turns violent when older interlopers relentlessly ambush their wintry forts. The title novella digs deeper into the human condition as Ray, a drug rehabilitation counselor and recovered addict, forms troubled and emotionally destabilizing relationships with his clients. Ray oversees the progress of a motley assortment of addicts. Here, the original scene-setting is as striking as the characters themselves. For example, Angel Day, an attractive participant (and recognizable semifamous singer) in one of Ray’s groups, must but cannot suppress her sexuality: “She has studied and displayed it for so long that it has captured every pore and cell of her and will not let go.” Finally, “On the Last Frontier” spotlights the melodramatic dynamic between Katie and Reuben, a restless and dysfunctional pair surviving in a small, tightly knit Alaskan village. Flanigan has a flare for description as he sets up scenes and expertly carves out characterizations; Jack’s icy snowball fight hums with the same palpable excitement as the chatter within the rehab’s recovery rooms. As different as each tale may be, they share a common thread of human perseverance, tenacity, and hope. Flanigan is an entertaining, skillful storyteller; his stories will appeal to both younger and adult readers of realistically drawn fiction.
Three compelling, impressively crafted tales united by authenticity and grace.Pub Date: April 19, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-73361-039-1
Page Count: 171
Publisher: Arjuna Books
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 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 welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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