Elegantly poetic—and often archly funny—meditations on death by a superb writer.
The angel of death, Washoe the chimp, and T.S. Eliot share the stage in Williams’ enchanting collection of 99 short-short stories.
“The older dog’s death”: This is one complete entry in Williams’ lyrical set of 99 stories about death, its number nicely echoing Dante’s Divine Comedy. Dante turns up, to be sure. Williams’ tales, though, more often concern Azrael, the archangel who escorts souls to meet God, and the devil, with whom Azrael has some pointed exchanges: “Death and I are not the same,” Azrael insists, to which the devil replies, “A difference without distinction.” On occasion they agree—for instance, that crows and ravens “are marvelous,” belonging to the same genus just as, by the devil’s calculus, do spirit and soul. More often, the devil thwarts Azrael, an innocently guileless psychopomp who asks in all seriousness, remembering the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky,” whether the devil’s “stupendous and tireless herd were entirely red...and what did yippie i oh yippie i ay mean anyway?” Even when the two aren’t present in Williams’ glimmering stories, they’re close by as her characters maneuver toward death, one woman expressing the wish to be buried with her horse, and Vladimir Nabokov approaching the end with tears in his eyes in the knowledge that he’ll no longer be able to chase butterflies. The sensitive reader will likely come away from Williams’ little book having shed a few tears, too, sharing with the writer the sad realization that the world is coming to an end in careless human hands, their victims such blameless creatures as snakes, whose “existence underground kept the earth from falling apart,” and manatees. Happily, in Williams’ telling, the souls of animals go to greet God, too, thanks to Azrael’s devoted service.
Elegantly poetic—and often archly funny—meditations on death by a superb writer.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781959030591
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Tin House
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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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