A rich and enriching novel, for readers who persist through its challenges.
The kids are not all right—but neither, to be clear, are the adults.
In a place known only as “Steel City,” first-year student Jacob Morrow shoots himself through the right eye on his university’s campus. His friend Ash del Greco, an unusual and nihilistic junior whose face bears a spiral scar, films the act. Both are enrolled in Studies in the Graphic Novel, a class taught by Simon Magnus, author of “those insane comic books with the sodomy and the exploding fetuses and whatnot” and “the first member of the English faculty to declare publicly…that Simon Magnus was party to no gender and would henceforward use ‘they/them’ pronouns” before denouncing personal pronouns altogether. Over the course of one summer, about 20 years prior, Simon Magnus wrote the comic Overman 3000 in the company of Marco Cohen, the comic’s artist; Ellen Chandler, Simon Magnus’ editor at VC Comics and romantic partner; and Diane del Greco, Marco Cohen’s wife (who will later be Ash’s mother), an occasion that brings profound career and personal consequences. Pistelli eschews linear storytelling to describe these characters and others—including Jacob Morrow’s grieving mother, Jessica, and a close friend with whom Ash del Greco embarks on a tumultuous exploration of gender in high school—at different points in their lives, charting interconnections that will eventually lead back to the circumstances of Jacob Morrow’s noteworthy suicide. In addition to writing with a stylistically heavy hand (all characters are almost exclusively referred to by both their first and last names, for example), the author doles out extensive digressions and critiques, often satirical in their exaggeration, about a wide range of hot-button topics: In addition to gender, there’s political correctness, tarot, suicidal ideation, and advancing technology, to name a few. This unrelenting approach will undoubtedly alienate some readers, but others will be enthralled. Pistelli pulls off a few notable narrative surprises along the way, too.
A rich and enriching novel, for readers who persist through its challenges.Pub Date: April 22, 2025
ISBN: 9781953368928
Page Count: 344
Publisher: Belt Publishing
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2025
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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