An insightful but overstuffed collection about addiction.
A volume of poetry deals with addiction and trauma.
In this collection of 125 poems, Hunter portrays the constant emotional struggle that accompanies the fight against addiction. “Today is a new day / The drugs say they will not be denied / I’m going to do my best to resist / And if they should win / At least I know I’ve tried” ends the unambiguously titled “I’ve Tried,” an apt representation of the hopefulness and brutal honesty that permeate the volume. Faith and trust in God are presented as key, but other poems are keen to show the nuances of those striving to move beyond their vices. “Don’t Take it Personal” urges patience with those in recovery and shows how singular the process can be: “It’s the side effects of the medicines / That’s altering my mood / Everyone has problems… / Sometimes I overlook others / And all I see is me.” The book shines when it focuses on this kind of self-awareness. The collection brims with exceptional insights into the frustrations addicts face and the difficult process of recovery. Though it never advocates bad behavior, the work doesn’t go into the specifics of what those grappling with trauma do to those around them—a fact the book is straightforward about in “Secrets,” confessing, “I only tell half the story / The rest I won’t admit.” The majority of the poems utilize basic rhyming couplets or a simple abcb rhyme scheme. This gives them an alacrity reminiscent of street-corner freestyle, particularly useful when illustrating the manic anxiety that comes from negative thinking and the battle for sobriety. But the collection gets very repetitive, as many of the poems share similarities that go beyond the thematic, telling the same story of hitting rock bottom, finding God, and starting over. This can quickly become tedious. Furthermore, some standout works, like “Agape Love,” feel out of place in the volume. Though this is an editing—not a quality—issue, it makes the book feel unnecessarily monotonous and less cohesive.
An insightful but overstuffed collection about addiction.Pub Date: Aug. 28, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-982252-11-3
Page Count: 138
Publisher: BalboaPress
Review Posted Online: Dec. 22, 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
Great crime fiction.
An apparent suicide threatens to destroy an Irish farm town in the final volume of French’s Cal Hooper trilogy.
In the fictional western Ireland townland of Ardnakelty, “there’s a girl going after missing.” Soon young Rachel Holohan is found dead in the river. Shortly before, she had stopped at Lena Dunne’s home, and nothing had seemed amiss. The medical examiner determines she’d swallowed antifreeze, and he presumes she then fell from a bridge into the water. The medical examiner and the town agree she’d died by suicide. But there is far more to the plot: 16-year-old Trey Reddy thinks Tommy Moynihan murdered Rachel. Moynihan doles out favors and punishments to the local townsfolk, who know it’s best not to cross him. Now rumors spread that Moynihan wants land and has a secret plan to forcibly buy up parcels from the locals. A factory will be built, or a great big data center, or who knows what. If Tommy’s son, Eugene, can get elected to the local council, then compulsory purchase orders for land will follow, and the farms will disappear. Eugene, who’d been romantically involved with Rachel, is wonderfully described as “on the weedy edge of good-looking” and just fine as long as you “don’t have high expectations in the way of chins.” Lena is engaged to the American Cal Hooper, an ex-cop turned woodworker. They are “more or less raising” Trey, and these three core characters are drawn into the mystery of Rachel’s death and may have to face the looming clouds of civilizational change for Ardnakelty. Lena is chastised for “asking your wee questions all round the townland,” and Trey wants to quit school, against Cal’s advice. Finally, the story’s best line: “You can’t go killing people just because they deserve it.”
Great crime fiction.Pub Date: March 31, 2026
ISBN: 9780593493465
Page Count: 496
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Dec. 26, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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