A potent and emotionally stirring depiction of how violence shapes everyday life.
Berman presents a collection of short stories tracing the emotional impact of gun violence in the United States.
In an opening note, the author tells readers that her motivation for writing these tales is “to give voice to those who did not survive” the “epidemic of gun violence in this country.” The collection is arranged into 26 short stories, alphabetically ordered by victims’ first names. Each begins with some background details and the phrase, “I am a statistic.” Some stories are clearly inspired by recent events, such as the story of an elderly man killed in a temple on Rosh Hashanah, a teenager killed in Buffalo, and several others set in schools around the country. Although many stories explore similar themes, Berman is careful to avoid repetition, often building scenes in which characters (and readers) anticipate gun violence, only to have expectations subverted. For example, in “Ginger,” a climate activist fears an attack at a protest, only for violence to unfold at her daughter’s soccer match. There’s also variety among the author’s choice of subjects, which include children, teens, middle-aged and elderly people, and a range of ethnicities, sexualities, and lifestyles. One notably surprising story, “Kylor,” features a pro-gun activist who’s excited to visit a gun show and purchase a new rifle. That said, with so many vignettes circling toward similar endings, occasional overlap and repetition are inevitable. The first time Berman describes a shooter at a middle-school end-of-year assembly (“a young man wearing a bandana that covers half his face, standing on the stairs at the far-left of the stage. He is holding a large rifle and pointing it at all the winners, then quickly flashing it around the hall”), it’s shocking, but when readers begin to anticipate a killer’s eventual emergence, the suspense wanes. This may, of course, be intentional, but it’s a point that could have been made in fewer than 26 stories. Nonetheless, the individual and cumulative impact of these works remains striking.
A potent and emotionally stirring depiction of how violence shapes everyday life.Pub Date: July 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781647429287
Page Count: 256
Publisher: She Writes Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 6, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
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
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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