Unclassifiable and unforgettable.
The author of Make Your Home Among Strangers (2015) delivers a stunning second novel.
In this captivating narrative, Crucet immerses readers in the life of Ismael Reyes, a young man trying to come to terms with his Cuban heritage and the truth about his mother while navigating both the glamour and the danger of Miami. This is one way to describe this novel, and it’s not wrong. But neither is it quite right. What this summary leaves out is that Izzy needs to find another job, since lawyers have informed him that impersonating the rapper Pitbull at parties is not a viable career choice, and that, confronted by this impasse, he has decided to model his life on Tony Montana, as portrayed by Al Pacino. While savvy readers may have guessed the Scarface connection from the title, it seems safe to assume that few will anticipate the role that Lolita—an orca imprisoned in a tiny tank in the Miami Seaquarium—plays in Izzy’s life. Indeed, to call this a novel about Izzy at all is maybe to miss the point. Is Lolita a supporting player in Izzy’s story, or is he a supporting character in hers? One thing that should be clear by now is that Crucet isn’t interested in presenting a straightforward narrative, one with a beginning, a middle, and an end. For both Lolita and Izzy, the beginning never ends. Lolita spends many lonely decades remembering what it was like to be part of a community. Izzy’s need to know how he got from Cuba to the United States when he was 7 overrides his instinct for self-preservation. And Crucet fills a whole chapter listing Miami cliches that a novel such as hers should maybe contain more of—cigars, thongs, music, food smells, color—while also asking if we’re looking for Pitbull Miami or Miami Vice Miami, because they are not the same, and neither one is the real Miami. None of this is to say that Crucet sacrifices story for postmodern flourishes. Both Ismael and the whale are singularly compelling characters, and both will break your heart.
Unclassifiable and unforgettable.Pub Date: March 5, 2024
ISBN: 9781668023327
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2024
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
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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