An uneven collection with the occasional gem.
Linked short stories define a web of connections among neighbors, family members, and animals in suburban Connecticut.
Acampora explores humankind’s impact on the natural world in this collection of linked short stories. The cast is wide: There’s a belligerent hunter and former cop, a rescue-dog owner struggling with her mental health, an oil baron with a penchant for exotic animals, and a medical researcher considering the ethics of animal testing, just to name a few. The lesbian animal activists in “Proxy” debate the power dynamics of their marriage as they settle into middle age. In “Tank,” a young mother finds solace in building a basement aquarium while her troubled 6-year-old son exhibits unusual incidents of red-pilled violence. And in “Pack,” the collection’s recurring avatar of toxic masculinity loses control of his trained German shepherd during a security incident at an outdoor concert. Throughout each of the 13 stories, characters disregard or misinterpret the facts of their lives in favor of the stories they believe to be true—one of the most human qualities there is. While stories like “Proxy” and “Tank” are unsettling, strange, and provocative, Acampora is not working at her best here. Perhaps the collection never reaches an incisive level of satire because it’s difficult to write from political and social positions one disdains. The point of view tends to flatten characters rather than illuminate inner lives that are rich and three-dimensional. Then again, at a time when major media outlets regularly publish stylish profiles of “alt-right” figureheads, one of Acampora’s points may be that it’s dangerous to imbue shallow or even hateful politics with too much credibility. Either way, the social commentary of this collection doesn’t land as successfully as in her older work, which navigates the political and the uncanny with more nuance and depth.
An uneven collection with the occasional gem.Pub Date: June 9, 2026
ISBN: 9780802167897
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Grove
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2026
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2026
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 touching portrait of courage and friendship.
A lifetime of friendship endures many upheavals.
Ellie and Homa, two young girls growing up in Tehran, meet at school in the early 1950s. Though their families are very different, they become close friends. After the death of Ellie’s father, she and her difficult mother must adapt to their reduced circumstances. Homa’s more warm and loving family lives a more financially constrained life, and her father, a communist, is politically active—to his own detriment and that of his family’s welfare. When Ellie’s mother remarries and she and Ellie relocate to a more exclusive part of the city, the girls become separated. They reunite years later when Homa is admitted to Ellie’s elite high school. Now a political firebrand with aspirations to become a judge and improve the rights of women in her factionalized homeland, Homa works toward scholastic success and begins practicing political activism. Ellie follows a course, plotted originally by her mother, toward marriage. The tortuous path of the girls’ adult friendship over the following decades is played out against regime change, political persecution, and devastating loss. Ellie’s well-intentioned but naïve approach stands in stark contrast to Homa’s commitment to human rights, particularly for women, and her willingness to risk personal safety to secure those rights. As narrated by Ellie, the girls’ story incorporates frequent references to Iranian food, customs, and beliefs common in the years of tumult and reforms accompanying the Iranian Revolution. Themes of jealousy—even in close friendships—and the role of the shir zan, the courageous “lion women” of Iran who effect change, recur through the narrative. The heartaches associated with emigration are explored along with issues of personal sacrifice for the sake of the greater good (no matter how remote it may seem).
A touching portrait of courage and friendship.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781668036587
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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