An unabashedly honest and queer debut that is equally strange and heartwarming.
A simmering rebellion breaks out in the city of the author’s mind.
Journalist Minkowitz’s mystical and imaginative debut novel conceives of her mind as a sprawling city full of degenerates, deities, and everything in between. The novel opens with Donna, or “The Narrator,” telling the reader that her therapist does not understand the “lush,” “sprawling,” and “strange” nature of her internal landscape, or what she calls Donnaville. She tells us that Donnaville has always cultivated resistance, and the reader is about to see “what happened when that resistance took flight.” The book contains a three-page list of characters—almost all of whom are parts of the author herself—the jailer, the harlequin, the divine mother, and the child, to name a few. Almost immediately, it’s clear that something is off in Donnaville: The harlequin, the city’s happiest, most beautiful citizen, asks himself “why…things feel wrong.” The citizens are restless and worrying and acting out of character—and the most important citizen is in danger. In the heart of Donnaville, there’s a prison, and in the heart of the prison, in the “most hidden and best-defended place in Donnaville,” lives the child. The child cannot be reached even by the most powerful citizens; she can only be touched with rage by the jailer, who believes his only purpose is to punish people. The divine mother knows the child is in even more danger than usual—and it’s up to the other citizens and deities to save her. Written in vignettes jampacked with tangents and asides, the novel jumps around Donnaville and the happenings of its citizens—which presents an often disorienting reading experience. That said, Minkowitz’s writing is especially strong when exploring identity, abuse, and the power that comes from breaking free of the prisons created for us and by us.
An unabashedly honest and queer debut that is equally strange and heartwarming.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2024
ISBN: 9781945023354
Page Count: 211
Publisher: Indolent Books
Review Posted Online: Aug. 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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