This story would serve young adults dealing with mental health issues and anyone who seeks to understand them.
A diagnosis of bipolar disorder derails a young woman’s college experience.
Maddy Banks has just finished her freshman year at NYU when she has her first episode, seemingly out of nowhere. High school was a breeze, though she allowed her boyfriend to monopolize so much of her time that she graduated without friends. Then he broke up with her, and she spent the next year grieving instead of partaking in college life. When mania hits, Maddy believes Taylor Swift wants her to write her biography and Netflix wants to give her a comedy special. The lows involve cutting and suicidal acts. For the next year or so, Maddy, her mother, and her older sister try to adjust to a new normal that includes medication, hospital stays, therapy, sobriety, and mood check-ins—a two steps forward, one step back dance that trips them up more than it keeps them in sync. Genova has a great grasp of bipolar disorder and how it can manifest in daily life. The story is told from Maddy’s perspective, which provides a firsthand account of manic depression but also limits the book’s possibilities. Maddy grew up in an affluent Connecticut suburb, and she’s the definition of sheltered. The other characters, who might have provided a more rounded picture, have no depth. Maddy’s mother relishes her role as a trophy wife, her stepfather is a rich afterthought, and her older brother and sister are perfect, establishing Maddy as the black sheep of the family. The setup feels stale considering how much mainstream discourse around mental illness has changed in the last decade. Selena Gomez made a whole documentary about bipolar disorder, but Maddy doesn’t even seem to Google it. Genova makes Maddy’s interest in standup comedy a central part of the story, meaning she had to write some funny bits for her character; she clearly studied the subject and deserves kudos for taking the risk, but the novel stays firmly in the territory of after-school specials.
This story would serve young adults dealing with mental health issues and anyone who seeks to understand them.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781668026168
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Scout Press/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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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