Imaginative verse though frustratingly vague in execution.
Haye’s poetry collection roams far afield chronicling varied experiences.
Described by the author as a book written in response to “exposure to numerous stimuli,” this collection is said to be composed of “stories,” but the pieces more closely resemble a series of short poems. They detail a wide range of phenomena, from what seems to be the wishful reincarnation of a deceased lover as an adopted baby in “Trading Life” to the pleasures and torments of one’s favorite canine companion in “The Retriever.” Many of the poems register as motivational mantras that exhort the reader to grab life by the proverbial horns and let one’s voice ring loud; in “Your Story,” the speaker urges the reader to identify themself in all that surrounds them and to seek their history in their own bodies, while the title of “Do Not Let Them Take Your Newborn Mic” plainly states the message of the poem. The latter’s transparency is rare in these works, however—the collection’s main pitfall is a resounding lack of clarity. While the author makes some engaging forays into defamiliarizing language, vagueness emerges as the work’s strongest undercurrent. It often appears that each poem has been primarily constructed to follow a given rhyme scheme rather than being inspired by a concept, sentiment, or experience. When the speaker’s specific preoccupations do appear, the reader’s understanding of them is challenged by a lack of coherence and continuity between lines. In “Musical Chairs,” the speaker seems to gesture toward sexual violence but loses the thread in nebulous, seemingly unrelated references to “the easter bunny fight[ing] to inseminate eggs” and “an extra limb” that is “cooked at the buffet.” The speaker leaps from one image to the next without connective tissue justifying their painful distance.
Imaginative verse though frustratingly vague in execution.Pub Date: March 22, 2023
ISBN: 9798386501495
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: June 13, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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