An uneven but entertaining story of war and exile, its shaggy-dog whimsy redeemed by strong writing.
A young gay man and his faithful dog weather harrowing violence in El Salvador and a long trek to America in Ortega-Medina’s hallucinatory novel.
Isaac Perez, a teenager living San Salvador in 1978, dreams of becoming an astronaut. Isaac starts an affair with Gerónimo, a handsome, politically engaged altar boy, but his deepest bond is with Ahbhu, an injured Australian Cattle Dog pup that he nurses back to health. The promiscuous Gerónimo never fully requites Isaac’s love, but Ahbhu is supremely faithful to him; indeed, their communion is so intense that Ahbhu is able to hold telepathic conversations with Isaac. This comes in handy as El Salvador’s civil war, pitting left-wing guerillas against the army and right-wing death squads, escalates in the 1980s. When a bus carrying Isaac and a group of left-wing activists is stopped by soldiers, Ahbhu guides him to safety as a massacre begins in which Isaac’s brother Arturo is killed. Framed for the murder of a soldier, Isaac flees north toward the United States, assisted by Suchi, a no-nonsense lesbian who belongs to an underground railroad for migrating gay people. In Mexico City, Isaac meets dreamboat Diego and his father, Don Federico, an indigenous seer who can also converse with Ahbhu. This magical-realist yarn suffers from weak main characters: Ahbhu is heroic but one-dimensional, and Isaac comes off as passive; he’s dependent on everyone and his dog to steer him. Fortunately, the supporting characters are vibrant and sharply etched—the hard-bitten Suchi flintily surmounts all challenges but is helpless prey to a leggy con woman—and Ortega-Medina’s prose is evocative and punchy (“Before we had even a chance to react, Cano dragged the driver off the bus, shoved him onto the ground, and put a bullet in his head, the sound of the single gunshot ricocheting off the hills”). The fantasy elements are a bit goofy, but the storytelling is vigorous and gripping.
An uneven but entertaining story of war and exile, its shaggy-dog whimsy redeemed by strong writing.Pub Date: Jan. 14, 2025
ISBN: 9781612943022
Page Count: 300
Publisher: Amble Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.
The Medusa myth, reimagined as an Afrocentric, feminist tale with the Gorgon recast as avenging hero.
In mythological Greece, where gods still have a hand in the lives of humans, 17-year-old Medusa lives on an island with her parents, old sea gods who were overthrown at the rise of the Olympians, and her sisters, Euryale and Stheno. The elder sisters dote on Medusa and bond over the care of her “locs...my dearest physical possession.” Their idyll is broken when Euryale is engaged to be married to a cruel demi-god. Medusa intervenes, and a chain of events leads her to a meeting with the goddess Athena, who sees in her intelligence, curiosity, and a useful bit of rage. Athena chooses Medusa for training in Athens to become a priestess at the Parthenon. She joins the other acolytes, a group of teenage girls who bond, bicker, and compete in various challenges for their place at the temple. As an outsider, Medusa is bullied (even in ancient Athens white girls rudely grab a Black girl’s hair) and finds a best friend in Apollonia. She also meets a nameless boy who always seems to be there whenever she is in need; this turns out to be Poseidon, who is grooming the inexplicably naïve Medusa. When he rapes her, Athena finds out and punishes Medusa and her sisters by transforming their locs into snakes. The sisters become Gorgons, and when colonizing men try to claim their island, the killing begins. Telling a story of Black female power through the lens of ancient myth is conceptually appealing, but this novel published as adult fiction reads as though intended for a younger audience.
An engaging, imaginative narrative hampered by its lack of subtlety.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9780593733769
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Aug. 16, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2025
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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