An impressive story that tackles familiar themes with skill.
In Handeland’s historical novel, a young man and his younger sister try to make sense of the political and social whipsaw that is the Vietnam War.
In 1967, teenager Billy Johnson from Willow Creek, Wisconsin, enlists in the military to head off to the Vietnam War—spurred by government propaganda, but even more by his grandfather’s urging that he make a man of himself. His 17-year-old sister, Jay, is left at home with the “Four Musketeers”: she and Mags, Ronnie Fredrick, and Helen Murphy, her friends since preschool. On the train to basic training at Fort Polk in Louisiana, Billy, who’s White, meets Terrell Jones, a young Black draftee from Chicago. They go on to fight alongside each other in Vietnam and become fast friends. When a soldier on patrol takes a Polaroid of Billy standing on the first person he’s killed, Billy sends it to his grandfather, who’s excited about it—but the teen is having regrets about joining up. Back home, Jay is beginning to courageously question the prevailing pro-war opinion in Willow Creek. She’s helped by Paul, a new student and anti-war activist at her high school. Over the course of the story, the beliefs of both Billy and Jay evolve. Many readers, and especially those who lived through that time, may be unimpressed by the prospect of yet another Vietnam War drama. However, they’ll be slowly drawn in by Handeland’s handling of details and nuances; it also makes clear that jingoistic, racist, homophobic, and xenophobic characters like Billy’s grandfather are not caricatures, but truly did, and do, exist. There’s some evocative writing, such as this line about everyday life on patrol: “They listened to the same birds, got bit by the same bugs; they smelled the same stink of sweat and mud and rot.” Readers will eventually realize that that this is a story not of political issues, but of personal loyalties: Billy’s to his platoon and Jay’s to the other Musketeers. Overall, it’s an arresting and moving lesson in integrity.
An impressive story that tackles familiar themes with skill.Pub Date: March 29, 2023
ISBN: 9798986966489
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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