Difficult, both rhetorically and thematically, but worthwhile.
A sexual assault radiates across time and relationships in this melancholy tale.
Fagerholm, a veteran Finnish novelist writing in Swedish, sets this story in Villaville, a mythical suburb of Helsinki that’s a haven for upper-middle-class families. But in 2008, it was rocked by a scandal: Four teenagers were charged with kidnapping, raping, and torturing a young woman. Six years later, Gusten Grippe, one of the teens, is trying to move on. But his relationships are crumbling: His mother, Angela, is busy with a successful opera career, and he still pines for a past love, Emmy Stranden, while pursuing a friends-with-benefits arrangement with her best friend, Saga-Lill. Other characters experience similar breakups and flimsy situationships, sometimes but not always directly related to the rape: Nathan Häggert, the instigator, has speeded his parents’ divorce and wrecked the career of his mother, Annelise, the head of an aggressively pro-capitalist think tank. (Annalise is a devotee of the unsubtly named Gayn Hand, which rhymes with Ayn Rand.) And the story won’t die: Gusten gets word that a filmmaker friend is working on a film about the assault, titled Who Killed Bambi? Fagerholm delivers this narrative in pieces, and what in some ways feels like the “wrong” order—specifics about the rape don’t emerge until the closing pages, not to intensify the drama but to demonstrate how the characters are determined to avoid confronting it. Leaps back and forth in time, along with shifting perspectives, make the story demanding (translator Harmon offers a helpful introductory note). But the main point gets across: trauma, and especially denial of it, makes connections too brittle to last, and efforts to paper over it with money or convenient stories are doomed to failure.
Difficult, both rhetorically and thematically, but worthwhile.Pub Date: March 17, 2026
ISBN: 9780299355944
Page Count: 230
Publisher: Univ. of Wisconsin
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2026
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 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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