The sinister side of the wellness industry is rich ground for a horror novel, but this debut falls short.
In this debut novel, a former pianist takes a job at a groundbreaking holistic wellness company, where she learns the extent to which her new employers will go to make their privileged clients happy.
The unnamed narrator of the book—who eventually takes the name Anna when her employers claim her given Chinese name is too complicated—is the daughter of immigrants who fled China following the Cultural Revolution. Her parents worked as piano teachers, and when the narrator shows skill at the instrument, they devote their limited time and energy to helping her develop it. That skill eventually lands her a place at the prestigious Conservatory in New York City, where she is shunned by her peers due to her talent and bullied for her lack of wealth. When returning to New Jersey following one of her recitals, her parents are in a devastating car accident that requires they be placed in a care facility, and the narrator stops playing piano to take on minimum wage jobs to pay for their care. But when Saje, the face of the wellness company Holistik, comes into the restaurant where the narrator is working and offers her a job, her life begins to change. Given the most cutting-edge supplements and treatments, the narrator begins to see her own body morph into a Westernized ideal of beauty. But as she becomes more enmeshed in Holistik—becoming friends with the owner's niece, taking on additional tasks that show her parts of the company others don't see—she begins to question the moral core of what they do. This dystopian horror story poses questions about race, wellness culture, privilege, and beauty, but it struggles to do so in a way that provides deep consideration. A lack of setup makes the story hard to follow; the author rushes key aspects, from details such as what gift the narrator is given by a friend to larger considerations such as why a stranger offered the narrator a job on the spot that she accepted without question. Although it will keep the reader guessing, this novel ultimately moves too quickly to provide a satisfactory payoff on the many mysteries it lays out.
The sinister side of the wellness industry is rich ground for a horror novel, but this debut falls short.Pub Date: April 4, 2023
ISBN: 9780593472927
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: Jan. 24, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2023
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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