A sincere coming-of-age novel that fails to deliver on its promise.
A teenage boy’s life in 1960s rural Iowa.
Before he departs for college at Drake University in Des Moines in the fall of 1967, high school valedictorian Charles Weaver must endure one more long summer in the tiny (pop. 2,500) southern Iowa town of Lockwood. With the assistance of his father, a lawyer and member of the city council, he lands a job on the city street crew, patching potholes and spraying oil on unpaved streets to tamp down the dust. Charles’ romance with Frankie, who happens to be the daughter of his irascible boss, displays occasional sparks without ever truly catching fire. These relationships offer intriguing opportunities to investigate themes of economic and social class that Kinnamon doesn’t explore in depth. From the Fourth of July parade to the county fair to a Pentecostal service, he effectively evokes the atmosphere and daily rhythms of small-town life, though this skill isn’t matched by an ability to create either emotionally complex characters or compelling action. For an intelligent 18-year-old, Charlie seems curiously unreflective, and the closest the novel comes to a moment of real narrative tension is when he and his co-worker Jerry discover a charred body at the site of a fire that destroys a historic church. Unfortunately, the mystery surrounding that event is never fully developed. Save for the occasional allusion to the Vietnam War or the urban riots of that summer, Lockwood, a town whose center is decaying and whose surrounding farms are being acquired by corporate agricultural interests, also seems oddly divorced from the America of its time. Kinnamon’s treatment of his subject is earnest, but his palpable affection for Charlie and most of his other characters doesn’t translate into a memorable reading experience.
A sincere coming-of-age novel that fails to deliver on its promise.Pub Date: May 1, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-9979137-5-0
Page Count: 250
Publisher: Publerati
Review Posted Online: May 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2021
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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