An insightful and playful journey with some uneventful detours.
Merullo delivers a spirituality-themed road novel set in modern-day America.
Retired Otto Ringling has just sold his home in Bronxville, New York. He’s flush with cash and has plans to move back to his home state of North Dakota. The property Otto grew up on has been turned into a meditation center through his sister’s efforts. Otto looks forward to living there in its supportive environment, even if he hopes to spend his winters elsewhere. But what should he do with the proceeds from the sale of his home? Otto’s wife is long deceased, his kids are able to support themselves, and, as his sister points out, Otto doesn’t exactly need the funds. He’s persuaded to give the money to others, no strings attached, in an endeavor he calls his Giving Project. In pursuit of this goal, he travels with his brother-in-law, Volya Rinpoche. Rinpoche is a “sort-of Buddhist monk” who originally hails from Siberia. Rinpoche has attracted a following through his books and meditation centers, and his demeanor is always friendly and humble. The duo drive along the Eastern Seaboard as Rinpoche gives scheduled talks and Otto gives away money, overtipping a waitress, donating to a charity, and leaving substantial gratuities for hotel cleaning staff. The good economic vibes are his to spread, but the journey isn’t all sunshine and open roads; Rinpoche’s views on reincarnation and careful driving habits rankle, and then there are Otto’s doubts—is he really doing the right thing? What will his future hold?
It is difficult to dislike Rinpoche. Whether conversing in charmingly flawed English (“Want we to bring you back the breakfast?” he asks one character) or speaking patiently to a hostile crowd at a conservative university, he proves a thoroughly pleasant companion for both Otto and the reader. Otto, while not quite as fun, is nevertheless engaging as he shares his relatable feelings of guilt and concern: Did he raise his son right? What of those who would mock his Giving Project? Not even the enlightened Rinpoche has answers for all such concerns. As the highway stretches out before Otto and Rinpoche, they never know what might lie ahead. Often, what comes their way is not all that challenging: At one point the two go to an Ethiopian restaurant only to find that it is too crowded before deciding to eat elsewhere. Even for a work that is contemplative and not plot-driven, the choice between two restaurants makes for very low stakes. At another junction they eat a bad meal in North Carolina. While the experience does provoke an unexpected curse word from Rinpoche, the entire scene does not add much of consequence. Nor does the description of how the brisket in question “tasted like it had been sitting on the counter since lunch the week before and had been hastily heated up” make for engrossing prose. Still, the two travelers are real enough to make their trip captivating.
An insightful and playful journey with some uneventful detours.Pub Date: May 15, 2023
ISBN: 9798986626642
Page Count: 282
Publisher: PFP Publishing
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles...
Sisters in and out of love.
Meghann Dontess is a high-powered matrimonial lawyer in Seattle who prefers sex with strangers to emotional intimacy: a strategy bound to backfire sooner or later, warns her tough-talking shrink. It’s advice Meghann decides to ignore, along with the memories of her difficult childhood, neglectful mother, and younger sister. Though she managed to reunite Claire with Sam Cavenaugh (her father but not Meghann’s) when her mother abandoned both girls long ago, Meghann still feels guilty that her sister’s life doesn’t measure up, at least on her terms. Never married, Claire ekes out a living running a country campground with her dad and is raising her six-year-old daughter on her own. When she falls in love for the first time with an up-and-coming country musician, Meghann is appalled: Bobby Austin is a three-time loser at marriage—how on earth can Claire be so blind? Bobby’s blunt explanation doesn’t exactly satisfy the concerned big sister, who busies herself planning Claire’s dream wedding anyway. And, to relieve the stress, she beds various guys she picks up in bars, including Dr. Joe Wyatt, a neurosurgeon turned homeless drifter after the demise of his beloved wife Diane (whom he euthanized). When Claire’s awful headache turns out to be a kind of brain tumor known among neurologists as a “terminator,” Joe rallies. Turns out that Claire had befriended his wife on her deathbed, and now in turn he must try to save her. Is it too late? Will Meghann find true love at last?
Briskly written soap with down-to-earth types, mostly without the lachrymose contrivances of Hannah’s previous titles (Distant Shores, 2002, etc.). Kudos for skipping the snifflefest this time around.Pub Date: May 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-345-45073-6
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2003
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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