An underdeveloped novel about finding one’s place when far away from home.
A dutiful wife and mother leaves small-town Oklahoma for Thailand in Lav’s debut novel set in the mid-1970s.
Brian Carrol accepts a job in Bangkok from an American oil and gas company. His journalist wife, Crystal, will remain in Pico City, Oklahoma with their children, Lisa and Tim, for two months while they complete the school year; then they’ll all move to Thailand to be with him. Brian never asked Crystal if she wanted to go, which she quietly laments. In Bangkok, Brian gets to know Judi, a masseuse, but turns down her sexual advances. Crystal reluctantly leaves her job, and once in Thailand with the kids, she feels isolated. Still, she develops a friendship with her maid, Nit, who hopes to attend an American university. Crystal insists on tutoring her, but Nit is unable to grasp English grammar and quits her job. Hoping to make amends, Crystal tracks down Nit’s parents, who accept the money she offers them but also berate her, noting that she knows “nothing of our lives.” Meanwhile, Brian uncovers an embezzlement scheme at his place of business, which puts the family in danger—and young Tim is briefly kidnapped. Later, Crystal discovers Brian’s secret relationship with Judi and becomes severely depressed; Brian arranges for her to return to the United States, where she’s hospitalized. Later, she returns to Bangkok, and begins writing remotely for the Oklahoma Daily. Over the course of this novel, Lav presents an ambitious tale about overstepping cultural boundaries and losing one’s autonomy within a marriage. However, some of the story’s more complex issues resolve far too easily; for instance, 8-year-old Tim is abducted for two entire days, but he recovers from the ordeal unrealistically quickly. The dialogue often falls flat, and the inner monologues are stilted and unrevealing (“I’m not sure of anything anymore. This is so hard!” Brian muses). The novel does, however, give readers an unusual glimpse of life in Thailand in the aftermath of the Vietnam War.
An underdeveloped novel about finding one’s place when far away from home.Pub Date: Sept. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63152-707-4
Page Count: 280
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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