An intimate, engrossing, rough-and-tumble look at what can be gleaned from life.
A semiautobiographical novel covers one man’s long path to maturity.
Frank presents the story of Jeff Williams. At the outset of the book, the year is 1992, and Jeff, 45, is in the ICU. More about why Jeff is in the hospital is revealed later in the tale. The important thing at this point is that Jeff’s dire circumstances allow him to develop a personal relationship with Death. “Big D,” as Jeff casually refers to him, has much to share. As Jeff tells his story, beginning with his fraught childhood in Utah, Big D chimes in at the end of every chapter with advice to impart. This is usually geared toward taking responsibility for one’s life. Concepts include “You are the creator of your life,” and “There is nothing in your life that didn’t consciously, or unconsciously, require YOU for it to be there.” Whether it is the uncaring atmosphere Jeff experiences in an orphanage or his tumultuous time in the Army, there is extensive material for the protagonist and Big D to examine. Jeff’s tale is a distinct one. He recounts that he was adopted, lived in a number of rugged places (like Fry Canyon, Utah, and New South Wales, Australia), and although drafted into the military during the Vietnam War, he spent a great deal of his service time in South Korea. It is in these unexpected, highly personal details that the book is most engaging. Readers are given an account of issues such as why American soldiers are advised not to marry local South Korean women while serving abroad (though many, including Jeff, do anyway). Later portions are not always as memorable. For instance, Jeff explains complications at different jobs (a bad manager here, pay schedule changes there) that, while relatable, do not as fully capture the imagination the way something like being on red alert near the DMZ does. Yet the conversations with a personification of death lend an intriguing element to the narrative. The author is not simply recollecting through Jeff, he is also analyzing and learning. The opinions expressed ultimately come with a lifetime of experiences to back them up.
An intimate, engrossing, rough-and-tumble look at what can be gleaned from life.Pub Date: May 15, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73-483670-7
Page Count: 216
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 3, 2021
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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