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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.
Using mystery and romance elements in a nonlinear narrative, SenLinYu’s debut is a doorstopper of a fantasy that follows a woman with missing memories as she navigates through a war-torn realm in search of herself.
Helena Marino is a talented young healer living in Paladia—the “Shining City”—who has been thrust into a brutal war against an all-powerful necromancer and his army of Undying, loyal henchmen with immortal bodies, and necrothralls, reanimated automatons. When Helena is awakened from stasis, a prisoner of the necromancer’s forces, she has no idea how long she has been incarcerated—or the status of the war. She soon finds herself a personal prisoner of Kaine Ferron, the High Necromancer’s “monster” psychopath who has sadistically killed hundreds for his master. Ordered to recover Helena’s buried memories by any means necessary, the two polar opposites—Helena and Kaine, healer and killer—end up discovering much more as they begin to understand each other through shared trauma. While necromancy is an oft-trod subject in fantasy novels, the author gives it a fresh feel—in large part because of their superb worldbuilding coupled with unforgettable imagery throughout: “[The necromancer] lay reclined upon a throne of bodies. Necrothralls, contorted and twisted together, their limbs transmuted and fused into a chair, moving in synchrony, rising and falling as they breathed in tandem, squeezing and releasing around him…[He] extended his decrepit right hand, overlarge with fingers jointed like spider legs.” Another noteworthy element is the complex dynamic between Helena and Kaine. To say that these two characters shared the gamut of intense emotions would be a vast understatement. Readers will come for the fantasy and stay for the romance.
Although the melodrama sometimes is a bit much, the superb worldbuilding and intricate plotline make this a must-read.Pub Date: Sept. 23, 2025
ISBN: 9780593972700
Page Count: 1040
Publisher: Del Rey
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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