A wise and smartly told story of reunion.
Two brothers and former bandmates reconnect on a Japanese tour in Starkey’s novel.
Chris and Andy Fairley wrote two Top 40 hits in the mid-1980s, and they are introduced here at the 1988 Telluride Bluegrass Festival, performing to a diminished audience after their dud of a fourth album. They are only in their mid- and late-20s but already feel their music careers are over. And they are—until 34 years later, when the brothers reconnect in Tokyo in 2022 to perform on a cross-country tour after a sync from a Honda commercial puts their music, or at least one particular song, back in the ears of Japanese audiences. After years apart—Chris spent the intervening time in Los Angeles working a desk job while Andy traveled the world as a TEFL teacher (he now lives in Kyoto with his wife)—the brothers start small, playing their hit song five times in a row at a wedding by request and performing in unconventional venues, such as the back of a souvenir shop at a flower store. An online interview they give about their past gradually helps them pick up more fans; their answers are woven throughout the story, allowing the reader to learn more about the brothers’ personalities, ambitions, and unresolved tensions. (Reflecting on the past, Andy observes, “There’s been so much water under the bridge, the bridge itself washed away—decades ago. But the way you were talking this morning, it sounded like it all happened yesterday.”) The author does not shy away from presenting the flaws in his sibling characters: Andy once stole Chris’ girlfriend, the love of his life, and Chris struggles with dissatisfaction in comparison to his more adventurous sibling (amid reflection and regret, Chris begins to emerge from his shell and find some fulfillment in his present circumstances). Starkey deftly balances nostalgia, humor, and heartbreak throughout, providing authentic-seeming details about touring Japan while presenting a realistic story of two brothers coming to a better mutual understanding with age.
A wise and smartly told story of reunion.Pub Date: Sept. 16, 2025
ISBN: 9798887980652
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Keylight Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 18, 2025
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
© Copyright 2025 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.
