A sprawling collage that, though lengthy and chatty, offers memorable characters.
Schulze offers an epic, character-driven novel of love, Hollywood, and ambition that spans two decades.
In 2016, 21-year-old Jacob Andrezj is a cinema buff with a chest full of DVDs and the passion to talk about them. He studies screenwriting in Boston and has just returned stateside from study abroad in Florence, Italy, where he explored his sexuality. However, he finds the gay scene in New England, particularly during Pride Month, lacking—until he meets an older man named Stewie Hanz, who turns Jacob on to the music of the Pet Shop Boys and listens to his intense criticism of films such as Lawrence of Arabia. Meanwhile, out in California, Drew Lawrence is a 40-year-old filmmaker who, thanks to his frustrations and abuse of steroids and other drugs, is prone to destructive outbursts. When he’s not snorting cocaine, having sex with male go-go dancers, or cruising around in his Jeep (with a license plate that reads “JEEPGUY”), he’s wondering where his “magic” went, so he embarks on a quest to regain his artistry. A man known as Whale is a young intern for a famous movie producer who calls himself “the Professor,” who, despite his moniker, is hardly instructive. Whale, along with his fellow interns, is often humiliated whenever he interacts with his boss; for example, the Professor gave him his insulting nickname. To aggravate matters, Whale lives with a wealthy slacker named Alex Avery who gets his kicks from drugs and rewatching The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). It’s clear that the entertainment business isn’t what Whale bargained for.
Some portions of Schulze’s novel are written as a screenplay, others are not, but the main narratives effectively interweave as the story goes on. The work is more than 800 pages long, and with that length come a range of styles and tapestry of tones, with physical connections that range from a relatively chaste kiss of two strangers to a drug-fueled Drew working his “coarse leathery hands” over a conquest in a bathroom. The page count also allows for intriguingly nuanced characters, and as the characters’ stories grow more complex, readers will find themselves consistently curious as to how the next scene will develop. Will Drew run himself ragged or find a path of reform? Will Jacob and Stewie make things work even when the latter reveals a secret? Schulze effectively paints Jacob as someone who desperately wants to join “the industry” even though his boss physically beats him. Many strange denizens of LA make their ways across the stage, as well. The many-layered narrative heavily focuses on dialogue, which makes for a slow pace. Jacob makes numerous digressions that add little to the story, explaining everything from Hogwarts to a T-shirt from Glee to how he picks what music to play in the car with his friends. (Even Stewie complains: “You say so many things!”) As a result, readers will find that speed is always a priority. A sprawling collage that, though lengthy and chatty, offers memorable characters.Pub Date: June 12, 2023
ISBN: 9781737037859
Page Count: 822
Publisher: David Schulze Books
Review Posted Online: Dec. 27, 2023
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 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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
