Sharp writing that showcases a delightful sense of humor.
Guiaşu offers a collection of funny tales and lists that tackle a vast array of subjects.
The first story in this delightful and eclectic compilation begins with the unnamed protagonist in a pub, celebrating the publication of his first short story, only to be told by a friend, “Don’t take this personally, but you can’t be a writer. You just haven’t lived enough.” It’s a clever opening for a book whose vast scope encompasses an awful lot of what life has to offer. “Logical Flaws and Other Problems with Jurassic Park,” presents an imagined letter to John Hammond, the fictional creator of Jurassic Park, in which the correspondent points out the several issues that give the story its title. Other stories tell of a rabid squirrel squaring off against a German shepherd and a human-resources department announcing “Bring Your Pants to Work” day. And, in “Trying to Figure Out Which One of My Neighbours Ratted Me Out During the Pandemic,” police appear at a person’s door with complaints that they left their house for nonessential reasons. Lists include “Life Lessons You Probably Won’t Find in Self-Help Books” (“Know your limitations, but don’t share that knowledge with anyone”) and “Things That Go Through Your Mind as You Are Taking Part in the Running of the Bulls Event in Pamplona” (“Generally speaking, quadrupeds are faster than bipeds”). No matter the topic, it’s funny stuff, although a few pieces have more serious overtones, such as “Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow,” with its antibullying theme. The author is a university professor at who delights in skewering academia; “Submission Guidelines” is a laugh-out-loud parody of scientific journal requirements, and it’s followed by “An Honest Rejection Letter,” which includes such gems as “We wish we could tell you to keep trying, but that wouldn’t be good advice.” Guiaşu also plays with different styles along the way, particularly scoring with the clipped prose of “In the Wilderness, Reading Hemingway.” Overall, there’s much to like about this congenial, diverting, and agreeable collection.
Sharp writing that showcases a delightful sense of humor.Pub Date: Nov. 26, 2024
ISBN: 9781039194946
Page Count: 222
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Sept. 25, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
PERSPECTIVES
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.
Three women deal very differently with vampirism in Schwab’s era-spanning follow-up to The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue (2020).
In 16th-century Spain, Maria seduces a wealthy viscount in an attempt to seize whatever control she can over her own life. It turns out that being a wife—even a wealthy one—is just another cage, but then a mysterious widow offers Maria a surprising escape route. In the 19th century, Charlotte is sent from her home in the English countryside to live with an aunt in London when she’s found trying to kiss her best friend. She’s despondent at the idea of marrying a man, but another mysterious widow—who has a secret connection to Maria’s widow from centuries earlier—appears and teaches Charlotte that she can be free to love whomever she chooses, if she’s brave enough. In 2019, Alice’s memories of growing up in Scotland with her mercurial older sister, Catty, pull her mind away from her first days at Harvard University. And though she doesn’t meet any mysterious widows, Alice wakes up alone after a one-night stand unable to tolerate sunlight, sporting two new fangs, and desperate to drink blood. Horrified at her transformation, she searches Boston for her hookup, who was the last person she remembers seeing before she woke up as a vampire. Schwab delicately intertwines the three storylines, which are compelling individually even before the reader knows how they will connect. Maria, Charlotte, and Alice are queer women searching for love, recognition, and wholeness, growing fangs and defying mortality in a world that would deny them their very existence. Alice’s flashbacks to Catty are particularly moving, and subtly play off themes of grief and loneliness laid out in the historical timelines.
A beautiful meditation on queer identity against a supernatural backdrop.Pub Date: June 10, 2025
ISBN: 9781250320520
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Tor
Review Posted Online: March 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
PERSPECTIVES
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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