A deeply realized, if overlong, novel of neurodivergence and golf.
In Anderson’s novel, a young golfer on the autism spectrum does time for murder.
Charles “Chunk” Dawson’s Asperger’s syndrome has always set him apart. People often patronize or belittle him—or even misinterpret his affect for arrogance or aloofness. Since his meteoric rise as a teenage golf phenom, he’s mostly been able to hide his condition. “I certainly didn’t want the truth to ever come out. I wanted them to fear, not pity me. I also wanted to retain the power of a secret, like the philanderer, or boozer, or embezzler who draws strength from the excitement of the initial impunity.” Even when he went on trial for killing a man, Chunk kept his Asperger’s hidden from the court, convinced he would be acquitted regardless. He was wrong, and he’s now serving a five-to-seven-year sentence at the Western Missouri Diagnostic and Correction Center. As Chunk bides his time until his release, he ruminates on how his life came to unfold the way it did: his adoption by a wealthy but dysfunctional couple in San Diego County; his aptitude for golf, fostered by his sage, arthritic trainer-turned-caddie, Jim Wellington; and the confrontation that led to the death of one of Chunk’s opponents. Is Chunk the greatest redemption story in sports waiting to happen, or is he about to reenter a world with which he is—and has always been—completely incompatible? Anderson’s prose is sharp and insightful, capturing Chunk’s elegant philosophizing: “I am a professional golfer but will readily admit that I am an amateur human being.” More than the plot, it’s Chunk and his understated yet gripping storytelling style that keep the reader invested. Even so, at nearly 500 pages, the book is far longer than it needs to be, and there are moments when the momentum lags. Fans of golf will especially enjoy this offbeat tale, but at its heart, Chunk’s story is one of alienation that should appeal to loners and malcontents of all stripes.
A deeply realized, if overlong, novel of neurodivergence and golf.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 485
Publisher: Manuscript
Review Posted Online: June 17, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.
Stockett heads to Mississippi for another historical novel about feisty women.
This time, perhaps recalling criticisms of cultural appropriation in The Help (2009), she sticks to feisty white women, with one exception. The setting is Oxford in 1933. For two miserable years, 11-year-old Meg has lived in “the Orphan,” a county asylum for parentless girls. Chairlady Garnett—a villain so one-note she’d twirl a mustache if she had one—makes it her mission to ostracize the older girls she deems unadoptable, stigmatizing them as offspring of the “feebleminded” mothers who abandoned them. She particularly has it in for smart, sassy Meg, who refuses to believe her mother’s mysterious disappearance was deliberate. Elsewhere in Oxford, Birdie Calhoun comes to visit her sister Frances, who married a wealthy banker, to ask for money on behalf of their mother and grandmother back in Footely. Frances isn’t thrilled by this reminder of her impoverished small-town origins. But she’s trying to climb up in Oxford society by volunteering at the Orphan, the asylum’s books need to be done before the state inspector shows up in a few weeks, and Birdie is a bookkeeper. Having neatly arranged to keep Birdie in town and draw these two storylines together, Stockett goes on to spin a compulsively readable yarn with enough plot for a half-dozen novels. Birdie and Meg become friends, Meg is adopted despite Garnett’s best efforts, Meg’s mother turns up at the Orphan demanding to know where her child is—and that’s less than a quarter of the way through a long, winding narrative that keeps piling on more dramatic developments until all loose ends are neatly, if hastily, wrapped up in the final pages. Stockett might be making a point about Southern women facing facts and standing up for themselves, but mostly this is just a satisfyingly twisty tale that should make a great miniseries.
Fans of Stockett’s bestselling debut will love this engaging follow-up.Pub Date: May 5, 2026
ISBN: 9781954118812
Page Count: 656
Publisher: Spiegel & Grau
Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2026
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
