Ooh la la. The Senate race may be tight, but this book is a shoo-in.
In this timely comic novel set in New York and Paris, a political family deals with drama past and present.
A new book from Ginder beckons the reader like a hot bath and glass of something, a reliable and relaxing pleasure. Here the point of departure is a riot in Paris during which a young American pitches a champagne bottle through the window of a famous restaurant, apparently at the behest of a French right-wing extremist. This is bad news for her mother, Nancy Harrison, who is running for the U.S. Senate from New York. Nancy has been representing her district in the House of Representatives for nearly 20 years, since her husband's death opened the seat, and her hard work, vision, and political instincts have led to this Senate race. Her competition is a Republican television actor "whose most impressive accomplishment was hiding his Botox"—still, beating him won't be easy, especially with these new headlines. Her son, Nick, who's just retired from the stress of working for his mom and is looking forward to getting off benzos and finding a boyfriend, is tapped to fly over and pry sister Greta away from the evil Frenchman. Ginder aces the small stuff: sparkling dialogue, hilarious supporting characters (Greta's roommates!), whimsically named establishments—a doggy day care is BowHaus; a retirement community, Boom Town; a favorite restaurant, Me, Myself, and Thai. Nick is writing a musical based on the work of...Joan Didion. And you know the old saying about a gun in the drawer in the first act? Well, here the gun is a state-of-the-art trash compactor. Keep your eye on that thing. He also aces the big stuff, characteristically insightful on sibling and parent-child relationships and politically on message. As Nancy puts it, "The only option is to fix things, because you're sure as hell not going to leave them for your children looking like this."
Ooh la la. The Senate race may be tight, but this book is a shoo-in.Pub Date: April 5, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-24377-5
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Dec. 23, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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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