A sparse collection of poetry that leaves the reader guessing.
Newville presents an experimental book of poetry about death and regeneration.
This collection’s poems circle themes of mortality, disintegration, and resurrection. The book begins with just a sentence or two per page. The pages then turn black and the text becomes handwritten. As the handwriting deteriorates, clear lines and stanzas are abandoned, with words scattered, crossed out, and oriented upside down on the page. Black-and-white photographs, graphics, digital collages, and drawings are interspersed with the poems, which tend toward the dark side. One speaker shares that, while she “once was dancing amongst sea shells,” she is now “trapped in walls of depression” and laments that “Living is / dying.” There are vague mentions of a mother, who is “in a state of / mourning / agony / sickness.” Toward the end of the book, the poet switches to an essay format, connecting a memory of her uncle’s sudden death in a car accident with her calcium fascination and her participation in a post-graduate architecture program. She recalls a school assignment in which she was tasked with telling a story of a bird; she chose crows because she learned that they have funerals for their dead. This leads into a meandering discussion about recompose (also known as human composting), creativity, grief, and Covid-19. She concludes: “i have been able to change, adapt, and turn into a new light just like every organism on Earth.” There is little grounding for the reader in this poetry collection—it is often unclear where one poem ends and another begins, who the speaker is, or what subjects these poems refer to. Lines like “I have fought for you / since birth” offer no context. Most of the poems are handwritten, and many are illegible. Occasionally, the poet crafts an intriguing image, like, “Water morphs me into life / I crystalize / an organic weapon,”but too often there’s too little substance for the reader to grasp.
A sparse collection of poetry that leaves the reader guessing.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 9781737223146
Page Count: 80
Publisher: The Black Hat Press
Review Posted Online: March 25, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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