A trippy but emotionally resonant tale about acclimating to life after war.
In this debut novel, a veteran haunted by visions attempts to get on the right track in a hippie mountain town.
United States Army Sgt. Coot Friedman—who is, according to his Department of Veterans Affairs doctor, a “borderline alcoholic with a marked case of PTSD” from his tours in Iraq and Afghanistan—has just returned to his hometown in the Hudson Valley. The town sits beneath the local mountain, Joppenbergh, which holds a spiritual and symbolic significance to the veteran/hunter/poet: “To say that it’s a second home to me is to say nothing. It’s my place of salvation, my temple…I’m at peace when I roam through its world of mist, rocky woods, overhung shelves of ancient stone, man-made and forbidding mines, red fox, deer, deer ticks, bears, sometimes in close proximity.” After injuring himself during a hunting accident, Coot meets a midwife’s assistant named Margaret. He does his best to be a good boyfriend—and, before long, husband and father—but his tendency to see ghosts and behave erratically gets him into trouble. When the apparition of a dead skier—who acts as Coot’s spirit guide —tells the vet about a buried treasure from the town’s founding, it seems like the perfect means to provide for his family. But to find it Coot will have to navigate a cast of local characters (both living and dead), a local murder, and a visit from the Department of Homeland Security. Morganstern’s prose is vivid and surreal, particularly when describing Coot’s frequent visionary escapades: “The mushrooms and the elves and cans slowly slid to the right, making way for the town band marching in disorderly ranks from the left. A cymbal crash, honking trombones, the contingent of drums, the shrill arpeggios of a flute, the muffled guitar, ‘honk, toot, bang, crash, strum!’ ” Despite the premise, the book does not come off as cartoonish or self-satisfied. Rather, the author is invested in detailing Coot’s traumas and demonstrating the ways in which they rule his life. It’s a rambling novel that is occasionally disorienting, but the well-drawn characters and magic-tinged environment will be enough to keep readers engrossed. And the ending is unexpectedly rewarding.
A trippy but emotionally resonant tale about acclimating to life after war.Pub Date: April 18, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73374-642-7
Page Count: 327
Publisher: Recital Publishing
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2020
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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