How about we stop treating each other like this so this excellent author can write happier stories?
Marriage doesn't work, people are selfish and cranky, fate is ruthless—and Thurm is watching.
In 15 stories dated from 1979 to 2021, arranged in not-quite-chronological order, Thurm's unsparing, ironic sensibility and killer eye for detail fall on couples and families in varying degrees of disrepair. Almost every significant character is divorced or heading for a breakup, widowed, or dumped on the way to the altar. The "pleasure palace" of the title story is a gigantic, luxurious master bath planned by a young couple just before they receive the cancer diagnosis that will make it a room for one. The two newest stories, appearing for the first time here, are among the bleakest. “Banished” (2021) shows the terrible cruelty of a grown daughter to her widowed father when he brings his new girlfriend to her 40th birthday party. In “End. of. Story.” (2020) it's not enough for the narrator to have a father with dementia and a mother going blind—his long-loved wife announces she's having an affair, and even his therapist is more concerned with her own problems than his. The last line of this story, and indeed the whole book, will shock you as much as if it really happened. Though her view of things is almost unremittingly dark, Thurm is always ready with a wisecrack to take the edge off. In "Personal Correspondence," a newly single, barely coping young father responds to a poster in the laundry room from a grad student in his building who offers to write letters for other people, thank-you notes and the like. As this situation heaps one humiliation after another on the protagonist, who seems to be a literary agent, he meets with a client. Having informed him that “Your color’s ghastly and there are these big pouches under your eyes,” she goes on to ask him to choose between her ideas for her next book. " 'So,' Kristine said, 'Ritalin or incest, what do you think?' ”
How about we stop treating each other like this so this excellent author can write happier stories?Pub Date: May 25, 2021
ISBN: 1-953002-04-8
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Delphinium
Review Posted Online: Feb. 9, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 1, 2021
BOOK REVIEW
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
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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