A sharp novel about youth in conflict with dreams, nature, and reality.
Two young climbers seek the footholds that will allow them to escape their families.
Tallent’s thrilling, well-turned second novel—following My Absolute Darling (2017)—concerns Dan Redburn and Tamma Callahan, high-school seniors united by their love for rock climbing in the Mojave Desert. The children of low-income families, they lack the funds for fancy gear, but the excitement of “sending” (completing) a climb is too hard to resist. They both fantasize about heading to Utah and living together off the grid. (Platonically; Dan is straight, Tamma a lesbian.) But multiple forces weigh on that ambition. Dan is in line for a college scholarship, and Tamma also aspires to join the competitive climbing circuit. Family proves the steepest challenge, though: Dan’s mother, a one-time successful novelist, has a serious heart ailment, while Tamma is often recruited to support her sister’s children. Moreover, their mothers, once best friends, are estranged, placing their friendship under further scrutiny. Though in some ways a conventional bildungsroman, the novel is lifted by Tallent’s gift for surprising and lively language, from the peculiar names climbers give to sites (one challenging climb is called Fingerbang Princess), to Tamma’s robust and profane rants, to the lingo used to describe climbs themselves. (A “crux” is a difficult portion of a climb.) Even if you don’t climb, the language is rich and resonant: “The hand crack was juicy. It was outrageously casual for crack climbing. Not even a boulder problem.” Tallent delivers excellent set pieces, particularly Tamma’s introduction to the competitive climbing world, but he consistently has his eye on the existential questions that climbing metaphorizes, such as how to balance independence with responsibility and what constitutes a meaningful life goal. “How should I conduct my life? Do you trust yourself, or do you not?” Dan asks himself, and this adventure tale invites the reader to consider the same questions.
A sharp novel about youth in conflict with dreams, nature, and reality.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593714188
Page Count: 416
Publisher: Riverhead
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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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