Ostlund proves herself a master of the form.
These nine startling stories capture the subtleties of feeling—and being made to feel—out of place.
The protagonists blend into one another—most are queer women living in New Mexico and/or connected to Minnesota by a strained cord—but the situations they find themselves in are distinct. In “The Bus Driver,” a college student visits her austere hometown and runs into her childhood best friend, a young, hardened mother working in a chicken factory and longing to return to the adolescent trauma which set her down this path. “Clear as Cake” places us in a creative writing class led by Marvin Helgarson (always invoked by his full name) and populated by offbeat, hostile students. The narrator is struck by things “left over from an earlier life,” and how alien, even ridiculous, they can feel in this one. “The Stalker” exemplifies the current of hazard that runs through the collection, particularly for women and queer people: An adjunct professor begins to feel cornered by a student who insists on behaving inappropriately, in and out of class. The final story is “Just Another Family,” a novella featured in The Best American Short Stories 2024 and the standout of the collection. The protagonist, Sybil, returns home after her father dies to be greeted by her dysfunctional Midwestern family, a childhood bedroom full of rifles, and a urine-stained mattress. “My father spent the last year of his life discontinent,” Sybil narrates. “He’d always had trouble with prefixes.” As the aftermath of the death unfolds (and her mother’s mind unravels), Sybil struggles between the life her upbringing laid out for her and the life she’s made for herself. The disgust and fear these characters feel when confronted with unsettling moments or direct threats to their wellbeing is leavened by world-weary humor, materializing as the author lays bare the absurdity of everyday interactions. These stories are not comfortable worlds to inhabit, but they are precise and endlessly fascinating ones.
Ostlund proves herself a master of the form.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781662603020
Page Count: 272
Publisher: Astra House
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
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
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