A lighthearted look at how the passage of time affects one’s view of the past.
Nostalgia takes center stage in Donze’s bittersweet novel about a parochial school reunion.
Former classmates at St. Anthony of Padua elementary school in Springhaven, Pennsylvania, come together to organize a gathering 55 years after their graduation in 1964. The process of planning for the event brings back memories of childhood friendships, rivalries, infatuations, and heartbreaks at this Catholic institution, named after a saint who receives prayers to restore lost objects and loved ones. This book is firmly rooted in a community defined by a liturgical calendar, celebrations of Christmas and Easter, the presence of priests and nuns, and ritual observances such as Mass, communion, confession, fasting during Lent, and choir practice. The worldbuilding is rich, flavorful, and convincing, in part because the author draws from his own experience of attending a Catholic school in Philadelphia's suburbs. Two relationships stand out in the ensemble cast: The bond that develops between Paul Perdu and Ronald “Biggsy” Biggs, due to their shared responsibilities as altar boys, contrasts well with the clandestine, fleeting interactions between Paul and Mary Liz, skillfully depicting how the church discourages healthy mingling between people of the opposite gender. The cloistered environment also allows the author to look at how gossip can become a form of meaning-making in the absence of open dialogue, especially because teenagers have fertile imaginations. Donze’s critical commentary on the evolution of the church as a religious institution is built into the plot; the reunion is being organized because the school building is closing down due to “out-migration from Catholicism due to the ongoing fallout from the diocesan priest sex scandals.” In keeping with the school setting, the prose style is chatty, funny, and peppered with expletives at times, but it might have benefited from tighter editing in portions that tend to ramble.
A lighthearted look at how the passage of time affects one’s view of the past.Pub Date: Aug. 22, 2025
ISBN: 9798888389973
Page Count: -
Publisher: Finishing Line Press
Review Posted Online: July 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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