A warmly written parable on Saint Gerasimus and the nature of faith.
Wolfe’s novella dramatizes the life of Saint Gerasimus.
In this brief, fictional work, readers are introduced to a lion—a massive, regal beast who’s raised to rule over (and eat) all other animals and who knows he is not only a lion, but all lions. “I had no words then with which to tell my story—they came later—and time without words rolls along like the great river,” the lion reflects, “the Now always present, always moving.” This serenity remains when the lion encounters a cringing, deferential baboon named Astennu, a former temple monkey who offers to be both scribe and courtier to the lion (in exchange for not getting eaten). The two form a working partnership. The lion then gets a painful spur in his paw and approaches a curiously unafraid human. This man not only draws the spur from the lion’s paw, but also provokes a surprising internal reaction in the beast, who notices immediately that this man is not like other humans. “There is no stench, no sense of wrongness,” he sees. “Being next to him is akin to drinking from a cold mountain spring shaded by thick, breathing trees.” The man—who identifies himself as the fifth-century Saint Gerasimus—introduces the lion to the concept of individuality: He is not just all lions, but rather one specific lion, whom he christens Jordanes. In this simple, clearly written sequence of chapters told from different points of view, Wolfe introduces readers to the most famous bit of folklore associated with Saint Gerasimus, who’s known for befriending a lion and a baboon. Wolfe subtly weaves into a brightly told narrative some deeper philosophical insights grouped around the concept of faith and selfhood. When Jordanes, meeting Gerasimus, abruptly realizes “Everything I know must change,” he stands in for many of Wolfe’s readers who will have had the experience of feeling their lives change after contact with the holy. As Gerasimus tells astonished onlookers who seek to approach these wild animals that now accompany him everywhere, “the Lord has set them before us as treasures of His wisdom.”
A warmly written parable on Saint Gerasimus and the nature of faith.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-94-496782-6
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Ancient Faith Publishing
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.
Are we not men? We are—well, ask Bigfoot, as Brooks does in this delightful yarn, following on his bestseller World War Z(2006).
A zombie apocalypse is one thing. A volcanic eruption is quite another, for, as the journalist who does a framing voice-over narration for Brooks’ latest puts it, when Mount Rainier popped its cork, “it was the psychological aspect, the hyperbole-fueled hysteria that had ended up killing the most people.” Maybe, but the sasquatches whom the volcano displaced contributed to the statistics, too, if only out of self-defense. Brooks places the epicenter of the Bigfoot war in a high-tech hideaway populated by the kind of people you might find in a Jurassic Park franchise: the schmo who doesn’t know how to do much of anything but tries anyway, the well-intentioned bleeding heart, the know-it-all intellectual who turns out to know the wrong things, the immigrant with a tough backstory and an instinct for survival. Indeed, the novel does double duty as a survival manual, packed full of good advice—for instance, try not to get wounded, for “injury turns you from a giver to a taker. Taking up our resources, our time to care for you.” Brooks presents a case for making room for Bigfoot in the world while peppering his narrative with timely social criticism about bad behavior on the human side of the conflict: The explosion of Rainier might have been better forecast had the president not slashed the budget of the U.S. Geological Survey, leading to “immediate suspension of the National Volcano Early Warning System,” and there’s always someone around looking to monetize the natural disaster and the sasquatch-y onslaught that follows. Brooks is a pro at building suspense even if it plays out in some rather spectacularly yucky episodes, one involving a short spear that takes its name from “the sucking sound of pulling it out of the dead man’s heart and lungs.” Grossness aside, it puts you right there on the scene.
A tasty, if not always tasteful, tale of supernatural mayhem that fans of King and Crichton alike will enjoy.Pub Date: June 16, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-9848-2678-7
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Del Rey/Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK TO SCREEN
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
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