A gentle bildungsroman that could have used a little more bite.
The daughter of a single mother grows up in a family of formidable women in rural Ireland.
This short novel from Ryan, whose previous books have twice been longlisted for the Booker Prize, charts the early life of Saoirse Aylward, a much-loved child of the fierce Eileen and a father who died in a car wreck days after her birth. Saoirse is essentially co-parented, instead, by her paternal grandmother, Mary, a brassy woman who also becomes Eileen’s closest friend. As Saoirse grows up, her family’s life becomes more complex, with her mother drawn into conflicts with her estranged family and her paternal uncles pursuing marriage and the IRA. But nothing changes Saoirse’s life as much as a surprise teenage pregnancy. After she becomes a mother, Saoirse’s world expands when she meets Josh, a young writer with whom she embarks on a romance once his girlfriend leaves town. Ryan, who tells his story in brief, impressionistic chapters, is a gifted prose stylist and has a particular talent for capturing the language and rhythm of dialogue. The outwardly contentious but deeply loving relationship between Eileen and Mary feels particularly true to life. His decision to break the book up into short parts, though, can make the characters and their story feel distant. Though Eileen and Mary are vivid, Saoirse herself is a frustratingly blank slate whose interests and passions never become clear. Saoirse’s life, and her mother’s, can also feel implausibly charmed when it isn’t pierced by grand tragedy. Though these tragic moments are shocking, they are undercut by Ryan’s impulse to have everyone get along in the end and to deliver his heroine a sentimentally happy ending that isn’t supported by the novel itself.
A gentle bildungsroman that could have used a little more bite.Pub Date: Feb. 28, 2023
ISBN: 9780593652930
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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
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