A tender novel about living with a disability.
A young therapy assistant makes a life-changing breakthrough with a disabled man in Hirschi’s novel.
Twenty-three-year-old Matthew Walker, who has cerebral palsy, can’t speak or otherwise express himself. He’s at the mercy of assistants, who care for him while his mother, Martha Walker, spends the day at work as a cashier. She’s in the dark about what Matt feels or thinks; she assumes that he’s unable to form complex thoughts after a doctor cruelly refers to Matt’s brain as equivalent to “a head of lettuce”: “Society and the medical profession had long ago given up on him. His other personal assistants mostly treated him as a living body bag, a useless sack of flesh, bones, blood, and skin.” Things start to change, however, when Timmy, a young, new assistant, starts treating Matt with more compassion. Timmy sees a spark in Matt, and, after much effort, Matt manages to give him a signal that he understands him; it turns out that Matt has fallen in love with the assistant, although he doesn’t reveal this. When Timmy shares news of the communication breakthrough with Martha, however, she responds with anger, frustration, and disbelief.In a fit of rage, Martha has Timmy fired, and his replacement, Colin, abuses Matt, plunging him into a world of horror. Over the course of this work, Hirschi deftly depicts a harrowing experience of violence. The pacing of events starts to drags somewhat as the book goes on. Overall, though, Hirschi weaves a poignant story of compassion, love, and the complexities of living disabled. Each chapter is told from a different viewpoint, including Matt’s, exposing the horror and shame caused by abuse. When Martha realizes that Matt is going through such torment, she begs for Timmy to return, and when the assistant comes back into Matt’s life, the author effectively shows how a new world opens up for both of them.
A tender novel about living with a disability.Pub Date: April 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-78645-409-6
Page Count: 254
Publisher: Beaten Track Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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