An amusing, kindhearted tale of a troubled alt-world.
In this cautionary tale, the world is made of plastic: easily broken, superficial, and unnatural.
Written in a mix of screenplay action lines and first-person narration, Guild’s debut novel concerns a group of plastic women and men, Barbie and Ken dolls in all but name, living and working under the thumb of a glitzy technodystopia. History for these figures is chiefly the epic tragedy of 50 million dead in the “big nuke war” of the last generation. What has it brought figure-kind? Someone like Erin, a sensitive young woman with a wealth of problems, who works at Tablet Town and spends most of her time moving through virtual worlds in her Smartbody, seeking solace from the pressures of a society that interacts with itself largely through phone apps and other social media. Self-consciousness is the order of the day here. Sad Erin is a voracious consumer of a television program called Nuclear Family, which at times directly parallels the action of her life, specifically the story of her well-meaning but struggling father, and features among other concerns a look at the political divide between the liberal plastic people and the conservative waffle people—who are made of, yes, carbohydrates and rubber appendages. Yet she also is inside not only a self-policing surveillance state but, seemingly, her own TV series, surrounded twice over by the unflinching glare of the camera lens. Insert into this Technicolor nightmare an eco-terrorist organization known as Sea Change, which assails civilians with guns and bombs to fight the apathy of the status quo, and you have a meta-tale of human emotion and agency gone more than awry: It’s in danger of burning off a dying planet from a once-and-for-all nuclear holocaust. Guild works the parody and pathos well in this thoughtful entertainment, expertly managing to extract concern and sympathy for the plights of these plastic characters, as human as we are despite their occasionally squeaking leg hinges.
An amusing, kindhearted tale of a troubled alt-world.Pub Date: Feb. 13, 2024
ISBN: 9780593316764
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Pantheon
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
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 touching portrait of courage and friendship.
A lifetime of friendship endures many upheavals.
Ellie and Homa, two young girls growing up in Tehran, meet at school in the early 1950s. Though their families are very different, they become close friends. After the death of Ellie’s father, she and her difficult mother must adapt to their reduced circumstances. Homa’s more warm and loving family lives a more financially constrained life, and her father, a communist, is politically active—to his own detriment and that of his family’s welfare. When Ellie’s mother remarries and she and Ellie relocate to a more exclusive part of the city, the girls become separated. They reunite years later when Homa is admitted to Ellie’s elite high school. Now a political firebrand with aspirations to become a judge and improve the rights of women in her factionalized homeland, Homa works toward scholastic success and begins practicing political activism. Ellie follows a course, plotted originally by her mother, toward marriage. The tortuous path of the girls’ adult friendship over the following decades is played out against regime change, political persecution, and devastating loss. Ellie’s well-intentioned but naïve approach stands in stark contrast to Homa’s commitment to human rights, particularly for women, and her willingness to risk personal safety to secure those rights. As narrated by Ellie, the girls’ story incorporates frequent references to Iranian food, customs, and beliefs common in the years of tumult and reforms accompanying the Iranian Revolution. Themes of jealousy—even in close friendships—and the role of the shir zan, the courageous “lion women” of Iran who effect change, recur through the narrative. The heartaches associated with emigration are explored along with issues of personal sacrifice for the sake of the greater good (no matter how remote it may seem).
A touching portrait of courage and friendship.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781668036587
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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