A harrowing, evocative drama about the ravages of war and the power of compassion.
An idealistic surgeon must face the horrors of the Vietnam War and his own limitations in this first novel by Collins.
In 2017, intern Megan Parker treats a man with a steel bar in his chest who, remarkably, is not only conscious, but also a doctor himself; he even assists with his own triage care. In a parallel story, an inmate and former lawyer named Wesley Underwood Tillinghast reflects on his time with the U.S. Navy in Vietnam. Both stories shed light on the life of Lt. Matthew Barrett, a gifted surgeon drafted into the Vietnam War in 1967 who’s easily set off by the deaths of his patients and the cruelty of his captain. Soon, the gruesome realities of war begin to break Barrett, and only a blossoming romance with a nurse allows him to endure the senselessness. But as the war drags on, he finds himself questioning not only the value of practicing medicine, but of living at all. After tensions with his captain erupt, Barrett is court-martialed, ending his service. The traumatized man returns to an inhospitable United States for a time, until fate brings him to a Biafra relief camp. There, he hopes to rediscover what initially drove him toward medicine. Collins’ novel is a gut-wrenching and expertly wrought drama, plunging readers into the atrocities of war as well as offering uplifting moments of human connection. The prose, though occasionally long-winded, features lush and sometimes-upsetting imagery, as in this passage set in a Vietnam operating room: “They know now, these shattered young men, and the knowledge hemorrhages from them, drips down the side of the table….They, too, have learned there is no preparation for war, no defense against it, no vocabulary for it, and ultimately, no survival from it.” The accounts of Barrett’s treatment by enemy combatants, his corrupt superiors, and his own demons are visceral and poignant, but amid all the sorrow, the author never strays from his commitment to reveal empathy as a core tenet of a doctor’s work.
A harrowing, evocative drama about the ravages of war and the power of compassion.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-5255-9839-5
Page Count: 286
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
© Copyright 2026 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
