Filled with literary aperçus and fragments of history: an elegant, affecting close to a masterwork.
The final volume in the trilogy devoted to Argentinian novelist and essayist Piglia’s alter ego.
That Renzi’s diaries are à clef is certain. Whether they’re roman à clef or reportage is a question that only Piglia, who died in 2017, could answer. In whatever case, Renzi enters this third volume with presentiments of a vaguely defined illness that, over the course of the narrative, resolves into the neuromuscular disorder that ended Piglia’s life: “I can no longer dress myself, so I’ve had to get a cape or rather tunic tailored for me; it covers my body comfortably, with two cords to fasten it,” Renzi records at the end. “I have two outfits; while one is being washed, I wear the other, they’re made from blue linen, I need nothing more.” What's worse is a steadily diminishing ability to use his writing hand, and being a writer—no, simply one who writes—is all he ever wanted. The illness occasions his reminiscences of a long life of letters; whereas before Renzi had filled box after box with handwritten journals that went into every corner, now he has cause to revisit “the catastrophic stupidity of the way he lived.” Well, not so stupid: Renzi is a careful observer of the small details around him, such as the disappearance of the white poles at bus stops, in the time of the military dictatorship, with signs that turned the whole city of Buenos Aires into “detainment areas” that Renzi fears are the vestibules of concentration camps to follow. What is one to do but reread Don Quixote, pretend that things are normal, and take note of things afar, such as the attempt on Ronald Reagan’s life and the Janet Cooke affair? There are happy moments, too: seeing the great Gato Barbieri play his saxophone, going to see a Werner Herzog film. Alas, though, happiness must give way to Renzi’s grim conclusion: “Genius is disability.”
Filled with literary aperçus and fragments of history: an elegant, affecting close to a masterwork.Pub Date: Oct. 13, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-63206-047-1
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Restless Books
Review Posted Online: Sept. 1, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2020
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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