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
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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