A haunting novel with traces of thrillers and metafiction in its text.
The narrator of this obliquely told novel searches through literary history.
Upon its initial publication in Italian, Del Giudice’s 1983 novel found an avid readership, including Italo Calvino and actor/director Mathieu Amalric, who adapted it for the screen in 2002. Appel’s translation is its first appearance in English, and it isn’t hard to see why this has become a cult classic for some. The novel abounds with false starts and misdirection; the narrator begins on a train that’s broken down and is immediately reluctant to talk about why he’s traveling in the first place. Gradually, we learn more: He’s going to Trieste, where he visits a few of the city’s bookstores. He also has, in his own words, an “evidently foreign appearance.” The combination of a driven protagonist and withheld information gives this book the feeling of a spy novel, but it turns out that the narrator is in search of traces of Roberto Bazlen, a real author who died in 1965. At one point, a woman tells the narrator, “I think that only through stories will you be able to understand,” and it’s that layering of stories upon stories that gives this novel a compelling sense of mystery. (The translator’s use of the word “Negro” adds an occasionally dissonant anachronism to the mix.) One person’s cult book is another’s source of frustration; in a note at the end, Appel observes that “the elliptical quality creates an air of ambiguity that leaves you wondering if you missed something.” But it’s that contrast between the narrator’s mysterious journey and the precise details of Bazlen’s life—including evocative passages about clothing and class—that make this slim book so memorably disconcerting.
A haunting novel with traces of thrillers and metafiction in its text.Pub Date: Oct. 28, 2025
ISBN: 9781954404366
Page Count: 146
Publisher: New Vessel Press
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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
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
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