A bold, build-your-own anthology with some impressive names and inspired pieces.
Authors break free of convention in this unbound collection of experimental writing.
Although William H. Gass’ novel The Tunnel (1995) was published as a traditionally bound book, it was first conceived as an unbound volume, presented as if it were a series of papers shuffled together at random. This concept served as the inspiration for this collection of writing, which pushes the boundaries of what types of writing a single anthology may contain. “Being unbound—physically and philosophically—allows the pieces in this anthology to live in any order, to find the fit that works best for any reader, to be read randomly, sequentially, or thematically—or in any other way,” publisher Patrick Davis writes, to which editor Campion adds, “Experiment in such a context implies urgency as well as risk.” Their anthology is a grab-bag of forms and genres, featuring such items as fake book reviews, micro-essays, flash fiction, and stories written completely in dialogue. There’s a series of poems by CA Conrad involving a “crystal grid ritual,” in which the speaker buried a container of crystals and ate dirt at various locations, and a story by Rebecca Rolland about 999 women camped out on a cliffside in an attempt to find “Absolute Music,” whose definition remains vague. There’s a poem by Maria Garcia Teutsch that defines itself as a “psychogeographic” map of Berlin and a story by Curtis VanDonkelaar about old men at the end of their lives, floating up into the clouds like balloons. There’s a poem with sheet music pasted in the middle (“Obituary” by Jay Hopler) and another shaped like a syringe (Andrew Oram’s “Punch Out”). There are also stills of slides from Gass’ lectures, a long poem from Robert Hass’ latest collection, and a soundscape activated by a QR code.
It’s hard to know the extent to which the readers of this book will try to reshuffle these unnumbered pages to create their own order. Many authors have bravely submitted multipage works, which are certain to feel more transgressive when divided and diluted among fragments of others. Not every piece is experimental on its face and, unfortunately, the frenetic nature of the anthology doesn’t necessarily lend itself to close, slow reading. Perhaps because of the experimental theme, the reader’s eye will likely be drawn to poems that are most visibly interesting, such as Kimberly Johnson’s “Ode on my Colon,” which starts off, “in-between: go-between: middleman: middleband: / seam: clothespin: safetypin: safety-zone: / highway: causeway: gutter: bridgestone:…” Another diverting piece is K. Farrell Dalrymple’s story “The Neighborhood,” which begins, “Timothy Woods shot my dog. Timothy Woods shot my dog and killed my dog. He shot my dog and killed my dog, so I shot Timothy Woods. He shot my dog and killed my dog, so I shot Timothy Woods and killed him.” At nearly 350 pages, there are certainly plenty of compelling combinations here, and their inherent randomness is part of the fun.
A bold, build-your-own anthology with some impressive names and inspired pieces.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 9780991378081
Page Count: 426
Publisher: Unbound Edition Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2022
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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