Flawed and struggling characters face their mistakes and suffer the consequences in Treadway’s short story collection.
In “Providence,” a woman meets her addiction personified on the same night that she meets her idol. In “Sky Harbor,” another woman confronts an act of emotional infidelity that destroyed her marriage and broke her son’s heart. And in “A Flying Bird,” a third woman impulsively steals a cake out of someone’s car—and eats it. In the universe of Treadway’s stories, which are strongly character-driven, some people recur while others are featured only once. Conflict is frequently conveyed through internal dialogue, though the spoken dialogue is believable and true to each character as well. Whether the conflict is large or small, the characters are united by references in each story to a fictional Russian writer’s short story about a housewife and a talking sugar bowl; this weaves a whimsical link from story to story and also makes it clear that while each story stands alone, they are also meant to serve as parts of a whole. These passing references to the sugar bowl story provide a glimpse of the unifying themes of this collection: an exploration of the little voices we heed and those we ignore; the suggestion that there is some other life just outside the reach of our fingertips—a life more surreal, a life that reflects the roads not taken, the things said or left unsaid and often regretted. Treadway will leave readers reflecting on choices we’ve made that have set us on our current paths, but she also allows space for us to believe that we can change direction if we only listen to the voices of our “sugar bowls”—instead of questioning our own sanity.
Thought-provoking and engaging.Pub Date: June 7, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-953002-11-2
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Delphinium
Review Posted Online: April 13, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2022
Categories: SHORT STORIES | LITERARY FICTION
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Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
50
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The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
Categories: ROMANCE | CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE | GENERAL ROMANCE | GENERAL FICTION
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SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
The years pass by at a fast and steamy clip in Blume’s latest adult novel (Wifey, not reviewed; Smart Women, 1984) as two friends find loyalties and affections tested as they grow into young women. In sixth grade, when Victoria Weaver is asked by new girl Caitlin Somers to spend the summer with her on Martha’s Vineyard, her life changes forever. Victoria, or more commonly Vix, lives in a small house; her brother has muscular dystrophy; her mother is unhappy, and money is scarce. Caitlin, on the other hand, lives part of the year with her wealthy mother Phoebe, who’s just moved to Albuquerque, and summers with her father Lamb, equally affluent, on the Vineyard. The story of how this casual invitation turns the two girls into what they call "Summer sisters" is prefaced with a prologue in which Vix is asked by Caitlin to be her matron of honor. The years in between are related in brief segments by numerous characters, but mostly by Vix. Caitlin, determined never to be ordinary, is always testing the limits, and in adolescence falls hard for Von, an older construction worker, while Vix falls for his friend Bru. Blume knows the way kids and teens speak, but her two female leads are less credible as they reach adulthood. After high school, Caitlin travels the world and can’t understand why Vix, by now at Harvard on a scholarship and determined to have a better life than her mother has had, won’t drop out and join her. Though the wedding briefly revives Vix’s old feelings for Bru, whom Caitlin is marrying, Vix is soon in love with Gus, another old summer friend, and a more compatible match. But Caitlin, whose own demons have been hinted at, will not be so lucky. The dark and light sides of friendship breathlessly explored in a novel best saved for summer beachside reading.
Pub Date: May 8, 1998
ISBN: 0-385-32405-7
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Delacorte
Review Posted Online: May 20, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 1998
Categories: GENERAL FICTION
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