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THE LOVE OF IMPOSSIBLE SUMS

A rather strange but skillfully written study of a group of friends doing their best to get by.

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In Cacoyannis’ novel, set in present-day London, a public relations exec struggles to find peace after the death of his beloved wife and finds some solace in his friends.

Just as Ollie Bridge is about to commit suicide by taking an overdose of pills with vodka, his friends cajole him into attending a poetry performance titled “They Them.” There, he meets the poet, a woman named Alex, but it turns out that the meeting is a setup—an attempt by his pals to bring him back from the brink and return him to life, as it were. It appears to work—not only for Ollie, but for Alex, as well. Her husband, Sam, actually did commit suicide, leaving her as bereft as Ollie, whose own spouse, Eden, died of cancer. “They Them” features Alex and a life-size puppet that represents Sam; Alex is a ventriloquist, and as she trades quips onstage with the avatar of her dead husband, a pervasive creepiness takes hold. Claudia Ellis, known to her friends as “Claw,” is a physician who treated both Sam and Eden, who was her true friend, and she has a casual attitude when it comes to prescribing pills. Rounding out the cast is Sigismund, Claw’s first husband, a historian who left her for one of his students, and Patrick, who becomes Claw’s second husband. Readers learn that Patrick and Sigismund once had a fling, as did Claw and Ollie; it’s clear that this is a group of friends with benefits.

Cacoyannis writes very well on a small canvas. His previous works have had elements of satire, though it may be a stretch to see this latest as having such; these characters appear, at least, to be very serious as the author puts them through their paces—perhaps too serious. But maybe that is the point: They’re all navel-gazers, well meaning most of the time, but self-absorbed nonetheless. They demonstrate a panoply of sexual variety, and bed-hopping is a recurring motif, with so-and-so being unfaithful with what’s-his/her-name with abandon. But to offset this, they all seem to be compulsive confessors; in fact, transgression followed by confession is shown to be a social tactic among this group, a strategy for leverage. Still, this is Ollie’s story and, true to the title, readers get such soliloquies as this: “Broken by the addition, I have now become one minus two: a subtraction—in amongst the blackened silhouettes, a hollow displacement of matter.” It’s no wonder his friends thought it prudent to get him a girlfriend. The preceding quote is just the first of many arithmetical maunderings. Still, readers will come to like Ollie and care about the outcome of his new love with Alex, which holds real promise. The story closes with Ollie and Claw in a kind of autumnal mood as old, genuine friends lob insights to one another like players in a slow-motion tennis match.

A rather strange but skillfully written study of a group of friends doing their best to get by.

Pub Date: Feb. 29, 2024

ISBN: 9798873338832

Page Count: 271

Publisher: Self

Review Posted Online: Feb. 2, 2024

Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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THE WOMEN

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

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A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.

When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.

A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.

Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024

ISBN: 9781250178633

Page Count: 480

Publisher: St. Martin's

Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023

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THE WEDDING PEOPLE

Uneven but fitfully amusing.

Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.

Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.

Uneven but fitfully amusing.

Pub Date: July 30, 2024

ISBN: 9781250899576

Page Count: 384

Publisher: Henry Holt

Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024

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