A revealing and contemplative tale about people tied to a wondrous, harsh landscape.
A small coastal Oregon community in the 1960s grapples with a proposed law to make the beaches public land in this novel.
In the tiny hamlet of Kalapuya, The Wave motel is the only place to stay. Kalapuya’s winters are dark; the air is misty; and the wind is so strong it’s hard to stand up straight. But the few local residents who try to eke out a living from the sparse tourism are inextricably tied to the village. Marilyn and Jackson Ryder own the motel but are at odds about an expansion that she thinks they don’t need and can’t afford. Leah Tolman, a baker, is a proponent of a new bill in the state legislature that will make all the beaches public property. Elliot Yager, an aging lighthouse keeper, is opposed and does not want strangers tramping around on his land. While issues like the Vietnam War hang over the characters’ heads, highly local topics about Kalapuya dominate the discussions. It’s a curious place to live (“What’s wrong with us, Marilyn asked, to live here year-round?”), but the residents have caves to explore, colorful agates to collect, and their own pseudo geyser, Little Faithful, to enjoy. The strain of the business troubles, though, begins to peck away at folks’ relationships, and Marilyn and Jackson’s son, Tim, disappears, adding another layer of problems to an already burdened community. King’s novel is beautifully immersed in the marvels of the bleak and moody landscape and develops the characters enough to give insights into their reasons for wanting to remain in this difficult place. The consequential time period, with the new law’s approval in the balance, makes every business and personal decision by the characters a meaningful one. There is a fluidity to the writing that sometimes works well, but in other instances, it results in a welter of names in a paragraph or thoughts that change direction quickly, making the narrative hard to follow.
A revealing and contemplative tale about people tied to a wondrous, harsh landscape.Pub Date: Nov. 9, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-950843-48-0
Page Count: 292
Publisher: Parafine Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 25, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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