A family tale with engaging prose but an undisciplined plot.
In this novel, a man learns the story of his heritage following a stressful murder trial.
Matthew Rice is in a Toronto court, the foreman of a murder trial jury. Against all his personal beliefs, Matthew tells the judge that the jury could not reach a verdict, which results in a mistrial. This decision goes on to haunt Matthew. The fact that the defendant, Henry Dawson, is cleared of the charges of murdering a child settles over Matthew like a suffocating blanket, particularly when another kid is killed two weeks later. Needing help with his mental health, Matthew begins seeing a psychiatrist. Then, after losing his wallet, he tries to attain a copy of his birth certificate only to learn that the record of his birth in Canada is messier than he realized. Upon learning that the woman who raised him did not give birth to him, Matthew begins a journey of self-discovery as he travels to Australia to learn about his biological mother. Later, he flies to Ireland to discover more about his heritage and acquire his birth mother’s diary. Decter’s smoothly written story is a bit all over the place. Initially, it appears to be the tale of a man who is fed up with the sociopolitical climate of Canada: “The tectonic plates of his beliefs and Toronto’s civic realities ground against each other.” Matthew is also doomsday-oriented, hoarding propane tanks and liquor for when the country disintegrates. The author seems to be gearing up to make his protagonist’s distress regarding the mistrial a striking example of a broken judicial system, fueling Matthew’s disdain. But then the story rapidly shifts its focus to Matthew’s upbringing and his birth mother, which are compelling elements. Unfortunately, readers will feel as if the book morphed into a different novel when they weren’t looking. Additionally, there are a lot of passages that concentrate on Matthew driving his boat—which are intriguing but puzzling.
A family tale with engaging prose but an undisciplined plot.Pub Date: Nov. 23, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-77086-667-6
Page Count: 296
Publisher: Cormorant Books
Review Posted Online: Oct. 3, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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