A thoughtful but slow-moving novel lumbered with leaden prose.
In Andrae’s novel, an aging member of Generation X looks to revive his adolescent punk rock band while an old friend is hunted by a vengeful murderer.
At 46 years old, Remy “Rem” Bruxvoort is more than a bit lost—his relationship with his erstwhile fiance, Dita, has devolved into mutual contempt, but he continues to live with her until they can sell the bungalow they bought together. Additionally, he has no real professional life—a “cinema hound” who has worked as a movie projectionist, Rem sporadically works on a novel. He obsessively waxes nostalgic about the punk rock band (The Bubbling Samovars) he joined in high school (he was the guitarist) and yearns to find the master tapes for the LP they never released, hoping to now issue it. A lonesome man, Rem misses the band’s rapport and the “relationships with people who fit like a glove and intuitively enriched one another,” a blandly earnest description that typifies the author’s awkward prose style. By a strange twist of fate, Rem bumps into Gene Pawlus, the band’s bass player, and rekindles their friendship, becoming romantically involved with Gene’s sister, Julie, an aspiring poet. As a consequence, Rem tracks down Dusty Lewis, the band’s drummer, who is in possession of the LP’s master tapes and promises to prepare them for release in exchange for Rem acting as a middleman for the conveyance of some very shady packages. Meanwhile, Gene is stalked by someone (for most of the book, he is simply referred to as “the man”), an unsuccessful loner who murders his own stepmother and her boyfriend. He holds a grudge against Gene, now a “website revamper” who he believes cheated his now deceased brother, Jeff. (“He was hell bent on watching Gene die.”)
The author intelligently distills the uniqueness of Generation X, the group that was given an “analog upbringing” only to take up residence in a digital world. Both Rem and Gene are painfully adrift—despite a career and a forthcoming marriage, Gene is stymied by an ennui he seems unable to fully understand, let alone shake. Much of the book is devoted to the casual philosophical musings of its dramatic personae, though little of this material registers as either original or particularly provocative. There’s nothing new in these reflections on the banality of bourgeois work life, the “unbecoming trappings of the white-collar world.” In fact, much of the novel, despite the gathering menace of “the man” and his malevolence, is quietly dull, and the violent climax is as melodramatically formulaic as it is implausible. Moreover, the final lines of the novel, which are wearisomely cliched and sentimental, seemed phoned in. There is much to admire in Andrae’s effort—he paints an astute portrait of a generation brimming with competence and optimism but endowed with an idealism so fragile it easily transforms into a mediocre conformism. (Rem and “the man” are both extreme expressions of an attempt to resist that current.) However, the author is not equal here to the literary task of bringing these ideas to full fruition, and as a result the story feels stale.
A thoughtful but slow-moving novel lumbered with leaden prose.Pub Date: June 3, 2024
ISBN: 9798893721560
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Kaji-Pup Press
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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