Clever storytelling with an over-the-top protagonist.
A frustrated young man mulls his many mistakes.
In New Jersey in 2000, Tony Mazza (like matzah, only not, ha ha) stumbles out of a courtroom, wondering where he’s gone wrong in his life, and his narrative provides a thousand answers ranging from funny to sad. He relates his life in reverse: 2000 becomes 1994, then 1991 and so on, going back to his birth, which Mom fills him in on. Tony can’t keep even an entry-level job, as reporting to work on time at IHOP is a nagging issue. Surrounded by bad influences like his father and his lifelong friend Sandy Quade, he screws up by the numbers but only blames himself: “Where did I go wrong?” he asks himself over and over. In 1990, “the unemployment rate’s low enough for you to step over,” and yet he’s “thirty-one, divorced and jobless.” Loser isn’t tattooed on his forehead, although readers may wonder why not. Along the way, he peppers his narrative with lame jokes. “I know a bunch of jokes about being unemployed. But none of them work. Ha ha ha.” At times it feels like Tony has memorized his childhood joke book and wants to share every damned gag. (One or two fewer groaners would’ve been nice.) But then lines like this more than compensate: “That voice, sweet with an edge, is like orange juice left out too long.” Typical Tony: He makes a date with a girl and then forgets to show up. In high school he’s casual about punctuality, arriving at “Ms. Rosen’s Western Civ. class in time to be fifteen minutes late.” He could be a decent student—for example, his comments in English class about Holden Caulfield in Catcher in the Rye are perceptive: “It’s what Salinger thinks a rebel kid should be.” And yet a quiet tragedy lurks in the background of the Mazza family’s lives. Tony’s younger sister, Angela, has been missing for two decades, and all hope of finding her is lost. When the story circles back to 2000 no one is looking for her anymore, and Tony faces possible jail time on a low-level drug charge. One thread leads to a shock, the other to a glimmer of hope.
Clever storytelling with an over-the-top protagonist.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781646035861
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Regal House Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2025
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
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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