A quirky, multifaceted, unpredictable tale of narcotics, misfit bonding, and curative laughter.
A debut novel chronicles the life of a disillusioned drug addict.
At the helm of New England native Antonopoulos’ book is apathetic, struggling protagonist Leo, a “bored, anxious, twenty-three-year-old with no direction and a total lack of motivation to find one.” He’s also a prisoner to both his opioid addiction and a brooding, indifferent life stuck in a rural Massachusetts town. Coping with overdoses he barely survives and then rushing to score more drugs from his New Hampshire dope dealer, Leo feeds what’s left of his literary soul by devouring the works of Beat Generation greats like Burroughs, Kerouac, and Pynchon. Not even a visit to a Zen monastery (while benumbed from a heroin fix) can bring Leo any semblance of clarity. While readers may not enjoy their first encounters with Leo, the author, employing a singular, ambitious writing style braiding spontaneous interior monologues with graphic narcosis confessionals, creates a distinctly original novel in which hope floats above all the dismal, rigorously portrayed compulsion. Running alongside Leo’s tale is the story of Cole, an unhappily divorced, middle-aged Bostonian plagued with sleepless nights and fits of rage and regret. After his existential crisis manifests in a near psychological breakdown, he experiences an epiphany, realizing how depression “cushioned me like a trampoline and now I am skyrocketing into each moment.” One morning, he oddly awakens laughing. This sparks an intensive interest in the dynamics of laughter, and he embarks on a promotional endeavor to engage the entire city in his “vision of ecstasy and joy and love.” These two troubled souls converge at a poetry reading and, together with homeless pal Zanzi and love interest Sienna, Leo and Cole launch the “Ultimate Laughter Challenge,” a humanitarian, unification effort that makes them social media stars and challenges both protagonists to move beyond their struggles. In raw, often rambling, but always vividly graphic prose, Antonopoulos’ renderings of desperate, vein-popping drug binges are harrowing, and his descriptions of the frustrations of being trapped in a cycle of opioid abuse and withdrawal are palpably authentic. What makes the book unique is the mix of rapid-fire revelations, poetry, and odd, spontaneous interludes that readers of alternative fiction will savor.
A quirky, multifaceted, unpredictable tale of narcotics, misfit bonding, and curative laughter.Pub Date: April 27, 2020
ISBN: 979-8-63-994926-5
Page Count: 397
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: March 30, 2021
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 dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.
A struggling writer finds an unexpected muse when a mysterious man shows up at her cabin.
Petra Rose used to pump out a bestselling book every six months, but then the adaptation happened—that is, the disastrous film adaptation of her most famous book. The movie changed the book’s storyline so egregiously that fans couldn’t forgive her, and the ensuing harassment sent Petra into hiding and gave her a serious case of writer’s block. Petra’s one hope is her solo writing retreat at a remote cabin, where she can escape the distractions of real life and focus on her next book, a story about a woman having an affair with a cop. When officer Nathaniel Saint shows up at her cabin door, inspiration comes flooding back. Much like the character from Petra’s book, Saint is married, and he’s willing to be Petra’s muse, helping her get into her characters’ heads. Petra’s book is practically writing itself, but is the game she’s playing a little too dangerous? Does she know when to stop—and, more importantly, is Saint willing to stop? Hoover is no stranger to controversial movie adaptations and internet backlash, but she clarifies in a note to readers that she’s “just a writer writing about a writer” and that no further connections to her own life are contained in these pages—which is a good thing, because the book takes some horrifying twists and turns. Petra finds herself inexplicably attracted to Saint, even as she describes him as “such an asshole,” and her feelings for him veer between love and hate. The novel serves as a meta commentary on the dark romance genre—as Petra puts it, “Even though, as readers, we wouldn’t want to live out some of the fantasies we read about, it doesn’t mean we don’t enjoy reading those things.”
A dark and twisty look at just how far one woman is willing to go to find inspiration.Pub Date: Jan. 13, 2026
ISBN: 9781662539374
Page Count: -
Publisher: Montlake
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2025
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