An offbeat and sometimes-meandering work that, like the titular museum, memorializes a time of hope with grace and insight.
Averett’s novel follows a boy from birth to adulthood and chronicles his heart-rending journey of self-discovery, blending elements of magical realism, Native American mythology, and nostalgic fiction.
Set largely in the Pacific Northwest, and particularly the inland farm country of Washington state, the story begins in 1950 with the birth of Henry James George. From an early age, Henry’s life is filled with wonder and tragedy. He has an unusual, supernatural power: Whenever he reads classic novels out loud, he miraculously heals people of dread afflictions. Mrs. Obregon, a local Chehalis curandera, or healer, believes that his abilities are part of his destiny to do great things. However, his power hasn’t helped him to avoid emotional pain and loneliness throughout his life. As he works, and lives, in a museum dedicated to the glorious prosperity of post–World War II America, Henry eventually realizes that his healing powers—and the fact that he’s part of a generation called “the blessed children of the future”—don’t mean all that much without love, connection, and hope. Averett’s characterization of Henry is a clear strength of the novel; the gifted man’s naïveté and purity of spirit make his quest an emotionally powerful experience. The author complements this with a tone that mirrors the era’s sense of awe, as in this passage, in which the museum’s curator talks about the Waste-Away garbage disposal unit: “You connect this under your sink and no longer have to contend with messy wet garbage. Turn the switch, and this little wonder chews it up and carries it away….I just love Westinghouse.” Readers may not have a firm idea of where the serpentine narrative is headed for much of the novel—characters make appearances and then aren’t heard about again for numerous chapters—but that may very well be the point. The “River o’ Life,” as Henry’s grandfather puts it,is unpredictable, after all, and no one knows just what the future holds.
An offbeat and sometimes-meandering work that, like the titular museum, memorializes a time of hope with grace and insight.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 340
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: Jan. 25, 2023
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
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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