A refreshingly honest portrayal of parenting an adult on the autism spectrum.
In Grant’s novel, a Virginia couple struggles to raise their only child, a full-grown adult with special needs.
Retired Army colonel Tyrone Washington and his wife Krystal have loved and cared for their autistic son for 25 years. Tyrone Jr. was much easier to look after when he was younger and smaller; now, he’s six feet tall and weighs 180 pounds, and his tantrums can sometimes turn unruly and violent. When a formal complaint is lodged against Tyrone Jr., a judge puts the Washingtons’ son on an 18-month probation. This piles more stress onto Tyrone and Krystal—they can only hope Tyrone Jr. doesn’t stir up trouble in that time. The couple struggles to resist buckling under the pressure; monitoring their son feels like a 24-hour job. They turn to the Autism Cure Life Training Academy, which, they’re convinced, will help the whole family, providing a chance for Tyrone Jr. to live on his own. Grant pulls no punches in this depiction of autism. There’s no question that Tyrone and Krystal adore Tyrone Jr. and still see him as their baby, but his hard-to-control tantrums can leave behind bruises, bite marks, and damaged property. Tyrone’s largely unadorned narration reveals his occasional doubts (is he too old to keep up with Tyrone Jr.?), though Krystal wavers the most, contemplating a solo vacation to allow her to “decompress.” The story’s focus on Tyrone leads to surprisingly engrossing subplots, from the father being “involuntarily recalled to active duty” to some startling news his own parents drop on him. (Vague nods to his past involving a classmate and his personal mental-health issues are primarily callbacks to the author’s preceding novel, The Other Side of Friendship (2020). Despite hardships aplenty, the story has some brighter moments, mostly provided by a number of patient, sympathetic characters who Tyrone encounters.
A refreshingly honest portrayal of parenting an adult on the autism spectrum.Pub Date: April 4, 2024
ISBN: 9781735794235
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2024
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
SEEN & HEARD
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
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