An entrancing, layered coming-of-age novel.
This historical novel set in Michigan follows three generations of a Jewish family.
At the heart of the book is all-American teen Ben Friedman, living in small-town Michigan in 1975. When Ben falls into a fever dream (anaphylactic shock brought on by seafood at a bar mitzvah), he has a vision of his beloved Grandpa Mo, who tells him, “You’re guided by a light from within. I’ve done all I can. Now this mission is yours, but I’ll be with you.” When Ben wakes up, Mo has died. Ben’s tale shifts to his great-grandfather Dovid Weisman, living in war-torn Poland in 1915, where he attempts to protect his young family from the occupying Russian Cossacks. One of Dovid’s daughters will later play an important role in Ben’s life. The third storyline features Dr. Ira Rosen, Ben’s uncle, who’s been sent to prison for writing illegal prescriptions and who Ben blames for causing Mo’s fatal heart attack. Missing Mo, Ben asks Rabbi Silverstein to teach him about chassidus (Jewish mysticism). The teen, a star swimmer, longs to keep the Sabbath holy and avoid competing on Saturdays, which brings him into direct conflict with his lawyer father, who wants his son to win. So Ben must find a way to find his path without disrupting his family. He feels a need for something more authentic than a watered-down Judaism, but after he becomes more devout, his friends and family object. When immigrants choose to blend in to their new homeland, which is often hostile to newcomers, what are they giving up in the process? Schulman’s thought-provoking novel ably considers the tension between assimilation and tradition. And the plotline featuring Dovid and his clan provides historical context to Ben and his family. Ira’s prison subplot feels extraneous, adding little but predictability. Still, the extended Weisman/Rosen/Friedman family are enjoyable people to visit, and their struggles are continually involving.
An entrancing, layered coming-of-age novel.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781509247011
Page Count: 326
Publisher: Wild Rose Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 13, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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
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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