With stories already optioned by Ryan Gosling and Warner Bros., the author seems poised for a successful American debut.
Thirteen stories of contemporary Israeli life weave in and out of reality.
From a story called "Flies and Porcupines": "Since the day you enlisted, Yonatan, I've been trying to catch time. Literally catch it....At first I didn't catch anything, because catching time is truly tricky." From "The Girl Who Lived Near the Sun": "It's been a year and a half now that you've been traveling all over the solar system, without popping by to visit your old grandma even once." From "Debby's Dream House": "I found the job through a newspaper ad. I didn't even know there were people who built dreams." Originally published in Israel to awards and acclaim, many of the stories in Gefen's debut collection combine a down-to-earth, wry narrative tone with surreal or SF–esque premises. While one narrator actually does get a job building dreams, and also nightmares, another fixes a radio that can tune into people’s inner thoughts, while a third gets a job as a representative for a company called the Meaning of Life, Ltd. At a facility called Lucid Memo, people literally share their memories with others—and the pre-wedding couples who come in get a complimentary pampering spa treatment after the procedure. Some stories have more realistic premises, or somewhat more realistic, anyway: In the very long—too long—first story, "The Geriatric Platoon," the narrator is a man whose grandfather joins the military to alleviate his boredom. A military base is also the setting for "Neptune," so called because that's how far away from everything it feels—there, a mock trial is held for the crime of stealing a grilled cheese sandwich. Gefen's background as a neurocognitive researcher filters through the collection in stories that meditate on dreams, cognition, mental illness, and the inner lives of his characters. His philosophical concerns and ability to combine humor with grim resignation to the conditions of everyday life in Israel recall Etgar Keret.
With stories already optioned by Ryan Gosling and Warner Bros., the author seems poised for a successful American debut.Pub Date: Aug. 17, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-662-60043-2
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Astra House
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
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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