This book’s magic is different than that of its predecessor, yet the spells they cast are comparably powerful.
The mercurial and provocative Jones follows up Palmares (2021), her novel of 17th-century Brazilian slavery, in the unlikely and, yes, provocative form of an epic narrative poem.
The starkly rendered imagery and intensely orchestrated language in such Jones novels as Corregidora (1975) and Eva’s Man (1976) suggest that she has always been as compelling a poet as a storyteller. Her new book is a poem in two parts, Song for Anninho having been first published 40 years ago as prelude to Palmares, her sprawling, epochal bildungsroman about Almeyda, a young enslaved Black Brazilian woman, and her tumultuous adventures under different masters before escaping bondage with her husband, Anninho, to the refuge of Palmares. As readers of the novel will recall, the community is ravaged by war, scattering the survivors and sending Almeyda on a yearslong search for the missing Anninho. The newer of the two “songs,” which opens this duo, finds Anninho safely bivouacked from his pursuers and preparing for the battle to build a “New Palmares.” He is seeking answers from a curandero (or healer) as to the safety and location of his wife and speaks with other exiled Palmarenians: “Men and women who want to be / Who they are / Some must be taught to be / Themselves / But rebels are rebels.” Anninho also conducts imaginary conversations with Almeyda, whom he assures “the war has not / Ended. But / here in these caverns are the / African waters that / heal.” Meanwhile, in her song to Anninho, Almeyda conducts imaginary conversations with her husband, as she has been viciously enslaved again; at times, she grudgingly returns to a reality where she will sometimes “cross my hands over breasts / that are no longer there.” The pain and mortification of her abusive imprisonment are relieved by her reminiscences of her previous life and dreams of the distant prospects for freedom. There is fierce and evocative intimacy in these songs that contrast sharply with the sweeping momentum and formidable amplitude of the storytelling in Palmares. Readers familiar with both books will likely suspect that there’s far more to come in the saga of these besieged yet rhapsodic revolutionaries. For readers who are more encouraged than intimidated by Jones’ steely focus and breadth of vision, this is an important stop on a remarkable journey.
This book’s magic is different than that of its predecessor, yet the spells they cast are comparably powerful.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-080702990-9
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Beacon Press
Review Posted Online: March 15, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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