Capable of such a telling line as "the bedroom looked like a bedroom in a consoling children's story," Colwin surely will...
Can you make an adult novel out of four pretty, happy, rich, smart, rather sweet, and thoroughly two-dimensional Manhattan characters?
The answer is yes, sort of, if you adopt the knowing, slightly smug comic tone that one finds in New Yorker cartoon captions. Colwin, whose previous fiction (Shine On, Bright and Dangerous Object) juggled stylistic sophistication with women's-magazine sentimentality, here abandons the heart-on-sleeve for the tongue-in-chic, setting off echoes—some engaging, some just coy—of such disparate romance-watchers as Dorothy Parker, Hollywood in the Thirties, and, most disarmingly, P. G. Wodehouse. She alternates between two romances—the happy marriage of Guido and Holly and the pseudo-harrowing courtship of Misty Berkowitz by Vincent Cardworthy (Guido's cousin). These folks have what you'd have to call minor-league problems. Very romantic Guido (who oversees the family arts foundation) has to learn to accept that picture-perfect Holly sometimes needs to go off and be alone; she's afraid of getting too used to everything being so wonderful. Even more romantic Vincent (who is the Board of Planning's expert on garbage) has to cut through language-expert Misty's Jew-among-Gentiles hang-up and her anti-romantic, serf-protective (and rather tedious) snarlings. Through most of the problematic festivities—Misty's jealousy, Holly's pregnancy—it's a pleasurable relief to find the business of contemporary relationships being tossed around so blithely and reaching such cheerful resolutions. And there are a slew of funny lines ("Friendship is not possible between two women one of whom is very well dressed") and near-cartoon supporting players to juice things up. But eventually we don't feel that the theme ("Our trouble is that we don't know how things are supposed to be any more") has been dealt with—or, more important, that we really know any of these ultimately somewhat annoying people.
Capable of such a telling line as "the bedroom looked like a bedroom in a consoling children's story," Colwin surely will produce a story that stays in the mind; this edgy, expert entertainment seems to be trying to leave something behind, but it all rolls merrily right by without a trace.Pub Date: Sept. 26, 1978
ISBN: 0-307-47440-2
Page Count: -
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: April 30, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
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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