Amusing, disturbing, intoxicating tales of childhood terrors and obsessions.
Short stories from an Italian maestro finally translated into English.
The son of a domineering industrial designer and a children's book illustrator, Mari has been compared to Kafka and Borges for his unnerving yet humorous excavations of the psyche in which the pulpy influence of speculative fiction and pop art surfaces and glistens. In “Comic Strips,” an unnamed academic launches into a nostalgia-fueled frenzy upon learning of his impending fatherhood, and he rankles at the thought of what he assumes will be his unborn offspring’s lack of interest in his collection of comic books, ascribing to his future child “the adiaphorous passivity of the profaner.” Intergenerational conflict often serves as connective tissue between the loosely interlinked stories, as when one title from the professor’s shelves—the Italian SF magazine Urania—reappears in “The Covers of Urania,” a love letter to the fantastical monsters on each issue’s cover (“furry, slobbery, slimy, flaming, ungulate, bituminous, lobated, crested, gaseous, glutinous”), and we learn that the academic inherited the glossy comics from his grandfather. Originally published in Italian in the mid-1990s, Mari’s depictions of school violence will ring differently for American readers mired in an era of mass shootings. In “They Shot Me and I’m Dead,” the use of second person narration drives home a sickeningly familiar feeling: “a gloomy hatred for all your classmates would take hold of you; envisioning for them a thousand different deaths….” But the story spins into the surreal as the narrator imagines a bullet circumnavigating the planet, piercing even “the wood of trees, the brick and the cement of houses, the iron of beams, the ice of cliffs,” before seeking out its intended target. Freud would have a field day unpacking the many neuroses bundled up in Mari’s stories. Readers will, as well.
Amusing, disturbing, intoxicating tales of childhood terrors and obsessions.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781913505684
Page Count: 128
Publisher: And Other Stories
Review Posted Online: April 11, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2023
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
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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