A manic and often funny investigation of fandom.
In Rosenholtz’s epistolary novel, a desperate man reveals his psychological unraveling across a series of fan letters to Taylor Swift.
An unnamed 53-year-old high school English teacher and self-avowed music snob is shocked when he discovers how deeply he enjoys the Taylor Swift album Red (Taylor’s Version), which he listens to accidentally one day on his commute to work—his 13-year-old daughter, Allie, loves TS, of course, but the man is shocked that the music of the pop star speaks to him on such an elemental level. Soon he is listening to nothing else, declaring his car a “TS-only zone” in which his daughters’ other musical requests are not allowed. He embarks on what he calls the “Year of TS,” listening to Swift’s albums in chronological order and assimilating them into his being. “And then there’s Folklore—to be honest, I don’t even say the album’s title aloud, just as I never let my students say ‘Macbeth’ when we’re reading Shakespeare’s Scottish play,” gushes the man, who, because the novel is formatted as fan letters, always addresses Swift in the second person. “I feel unworthy of passing the word through my lips. The most perfect of your perfect albums.” By the time Midnights arrives in the fall of 2022, the man is so obsessed that he stays up until 3 a.m. to download the bonus content despite having to teach the next day. As he recounts his love for Swift’s music, the deleterious effects of his obsession on his life—from his work to his ability to drive to his relationship with his daughters—are increasingly apparent. The letters become more unhinged as time goes on, revealing the desperate fears and irrational dreams of a man on the edge of oblivion.
The author’s narrative voice is deviously comic, with glimmers of mania shining through the generally polite and friendly prose: “Sometimes, your music has even resulted in me losing my temper just a little, typically when anything or anyone comes between me and my enjoyment of you. I tend, for example, to yell quite vigorously at the woman with the disembodied voice who lives deep inside my car’s sound system whenever she interrupts the soothing sounds of your voice.” As the narrator discusses the fact that he and Swift share a birthday or speculates as to whether or not she has read Kurt Vonnegut, the sad realities of the narrator’s life are slowly revealed, such as how his wife kicked him out of the house and how his daughters are embarrassed that he cries whenever certain TS songs come on. Rosenholtz skillfully deploys the phenomenon of fandom—and Taylor Swift fandom in particular—to paint a detailed portrait of a lost soul for whom obsession serves as a kind of life jacket. The premise is a fun one, but it is slightly one-note; though the novel extends to only 220-odd pages, the idea loses some of its steam before the end. Perhaps because the narrator is ultimately so difficult to relate to, the book ends up feeling more like a lengthy black-humor piece than a work of psychological fiction.
A manic and often funny investigation of fandom.Pub Date: Nov. 5, 2024
ISBN: 9798988180920
Page Count: 226
Publisher: Demersal Publishing
Review Posted Online: June 14, 2024
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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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