A boisterous and thoughtful journey through the absurdities of modern capitalism.
Pullins’ satirical, surreal novel tackles American greed.
Ralph lives in a small town in Kansas where he sells corn dogs. His corn dog shop, Corny Doo Dogs, is a small operation, but top-notch. Ralph raises the pigs and the corn himself, ensuring the product will be the finest his customers have ever tasted. His wife, Phyllis, works the register; his daughter, Stella, also helps out. When Ralph is not selling corn dogs (and even sometimes when he is), he is reading Plato. Corny Doo Dogs does not exactly rake in the cash, but as far as Ralph is concerned, he is happy with the way things are. Phyllis is not. Phyllis wants to be wealthy, and spends long hours watching people win big on TV shows like The Price Is Right; if only she could get Ralph to push Corny Doo Dogs into making more of a profit. One day, a man on television, the Money Master, explains how things could be better: Phyllis needs to send Ralph to a financial educational facility called the Dollartorium—then, the big money can start rolling in. Soon, Ralph is learning why “One will never get rich merely working for a living” and about the benefits of a literal money machine. The story pointedly dives into philosophies about life and work: To those with power, Ralph’s “corn dog morality” (which requires practices like conducting an honest day’s labor) is wrong. Ralph must learn tricks, like how to create desire in consumers. Pullins crafts some insightful lines, as when the Money Master explains that making money as an individual while a company fails is no big deal, even if one appears foolish in the process: “looking like a fool, isn’t that the perfect cover for a thief?” The text can feel repetitive; the author hammers home Phyllis’ greed (“Cash populates her dreams”) as she desires many, many things (including a poodle). Still, the story remains engaging as the reader anticipates what Ralph will ultimately do with what he’s learned—and, of course, with his money machine.
A boisterous and thoughtful journey through the absurdities of modern capitalism.Pub Date: today
ISBN: 9781963115666
Page Count: 246
Publisher: Unsolicited Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 1, 2025
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
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
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