A tediously proselytizing novel, more a political editorial than a dramatic work of literature.
A group of cranky retirees rallies against political correctness in Zerr’s novel.
Gregory George “Notso” Normal, an 80-year-old man, meets his aging confreres every week at the American Legion to drink beer and exchange cantankerous complaints. Gregory’s friends are no longer keeping their critical views to themselves—Hiram, Norb, Del, Oscar, and Ollie propose the establishment of a fraternal group designed to proclaim their judgments to the world, specifically taking aim at what they see as the ubiquitous regimen of political correctness that renders common sense an “absent virtue.” They call themselves the Curmudgeonly Old Poops and appoint Gregory the historian and “Dispatch drafter,” the one to pen their weekly grievances and post them online. Their creed is simple: The “world is going to hell in a handbasket and is hell-bent-for-election to get there,” and “There IS something we can do about it.” COP rustles some feathers—Gregory and his wife, Jolene, receive threats—but the membership expands, as does a mandatory group reading list. The narrative angles for a somewhat banal lesson in civic moderation, as concisely if unspectacularly summarized by Gregory: “We need to remember what we’re trying to do with our Dispatches, which is to bridge the chasm dividing Americans into hard-over, uncompromising camps. We are trying to change people’s behavior, and we will have to deal with tough subjects to have a chance to accomplish our goal.” The novel has a lightly humorous tone—there is something irrepressibly endearing about the combination of splenetic grumpiness and old-fashioned prudence that characterizes the protagonists. However, the entire work has a gratingly didactic quality—this is less a dramatic novel than a platform for cultural commentary. The author’s condescension is only exacerbated by the banality of the novel’s insights (“Before you tell others how to act, examine your own behavior”). Zerr’s work is cute and tender, but that does not compensate for the book’s hectoring tone.
A tediously proselytizing novel, more a political editorial than a dramatic work of literature.Pub Date: Feb. 17, 2023
ISBN: 9781957676418
Page Count: 262
Publisher: Primix Publishing
Review Posted Online: May 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
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Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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