An elliptical but arresting work of literary fiction with mysterious undercurrents.
Characters’ quests for companionship, work, and knowledge come to thwarted or violent ends in this insinuating, enigmatic novella.
The cast of S.H.’s debut tale moves through a placeless American landscape of generic gas stations, shopping malls, and exurban town house clusters in wooded areas. All are on mundane errands that suddenly take on sinister hues. In one subplot, for example, a young man named Aaron has no luck approaching women at the mall until a girl named Casta invites him home to meet her sister Paula, whereupon he suffers a series of shocking physical ambushes. In a second storyline, mechanic Virgil fixes teenager Peter’s car while Virgil’s wife, Candace, works at a retirement home, before a lunchtime rendezvous turns violent. In a third tale, Peter’s literature teacher, Mr. Aquinas, holds forth on Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, then tutors a young boy named Leonard on his multiplication tables before learning of tragedies involving his other students. Tying together these threads is the voice of a narrator who’s applying for a job from an irascible boss; as the two fence, their conversation gradually draws the other strands of the story into a baffling convergence. In straightforward, minimalist prose, S.H. depicts characters and their actions as ordinary and even banal. But before the subplots veer off into overt, if barely elaborated, strangeness and trauma, there’s a gathering sense of eeriness, helped along by cryptic dialogue (“Do you have a—” “Smokes make your lips hard.” “You think?”). The story is also dense with allusions to ancient literature: St. Thomas Aquinas and Virgil; Casta and Paula, who seem like a distaff version of Castor and Pollux, the famous duo from Greek mythology. The nameless narrator, meanwhile, is fixated on the biblical book of Job. It’s hard to say what it all adds up to, but readers will find the book an absorbing read as they try to puzzle out its hidden meanings.
An elliptical but arresting work of literary fiction with mysterious undercurrents.Pub Date: April 27, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5308-1843-3
Page Count: 62
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of...
Hoover’s (November 9, 2015, etc.) latest tackles the difficult subject of domestic violence with romantic tenderness and emotional heft.
At first glance, the couple is edgy but cute: Lily Bloom runs a flower shop for people who hate flowers; Ryle Kincaid is a surgeon who says he never wants to get married or have kids. They meet on a rooftop in Boston on the night Ryle loses a patient and Lily attends her abusive father’s funeral. The provocative opening takes a dark turn when Lily receives a warning about Ryle’s intentions from his sister, who becomes Lily’s employee and close friend. Lily swears she’ll never end up in another abusive home, but when Ryle starts to show all the same warning signs that her mother ignored, Lily learns just how hard it is to say goodbye. When Ryle is not in the throes of a jealous rage, his redeeming qualities return, and Lily can justify his behavior: “I think we needed what happened on the stairwell to happen so that I would know his past and we’d be able to work on it together,” she tells herself. Lily marries Ryle hoping the good will outweigh the bad, and the mother-daughter dynamics evolve beautifully as Lily reflects on her childhood with fresh eyes. Diary entries fancifully addressed to TV host Ellen DeGeneres serve as flashbacks to Lily’s teenage years, when she met her first love, Atlas Corrigan, a homeless boy she found squatting in a neighbor’s house. When Atlas turns up in Boston, now a successful chef, he begs Lily to leave Ryle. Despite the better option right in front of her, an unexpected complication forces Lily to cut ties with Atlas, confront Ryle, and try to end the cycle of abuse before it’s too late. The relationships are portrayed with compassion and honesty, and the author’s note at the end that explains Hoover’s personal connection to the subject matter is a must-read.
Packed with riveting drama and painful truths, this book powerfully illustrates the devastation of abuse—and the strength of the survivors.Pub Date: Aug. 2, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-5011-1036-8
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: May 30, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.
A promise to his best friend leads an Army serviceman to a family in need and a chance at true love in this novel.
Beckett Gentry is surprised when his Army buddy Ryan MacKenzie gives him a letter from Ryan’s sister, Ella. Abandoned by his mother, Beckett grew up in a series of foster homes. He is wary of attachments until he reads Ella’s letter. A single mother, Ella lives with her twins, Maisie and Colt, at Solitude, the resort she operates in Telluride, Colorado. They begin a correspondence, although Beckett can only identify himself by his call sign, Chaos. After Ryan’s death during a mission, Beckett travels to Telluride as his friend had requested. He bonds with the twins while falling deeply in love with Ella. Reluctant to reveal details of Ryan’s death and risk causing her pain, Beckett declines to disclose to Ella that he is Chaos. Maisie needs treatment for neuroblastoma, and Beckett formally adopts the twins as a sign of his commitment to support Ella and her children. He and Ella pursue a romance, but when an insurance investigator questions the adoption, Beckett is faced with revealing the truth about the letters and Ryan’s death, risking losing the family he loves. Yarros’ (Wilder, 2016, etc.) novel is a deeply felt and emotionally nuanced contemporary romance bolstered by well-drawn characters and strong, confident storytelling. Beckett and Ella are sympathetic protagonists whose past experiences leave them cautious when it comes to love. Beckett never knew the security of a stable home life. Ella impulsively married her high school boyfriend, but the marriage ended when he discovered she was pregnant. The author is especially adept at developing the characters through subtle but significant details, like Beckett’s aversion to swearing. Beckett and Ella’s romance unfolds slowly in chapters that alternate between their first-person viewpoints. The letters they exchanged are pivotal to their connection, and almost every chapter opens with one. Yarros’ writing is crisp and sharp, with passages that are poetic without being florid. For example, in a letter to Beckett, Ella writes of motherhood: “But I’m not the center of their universe. I’m more like their gravity.” While the love story is the book’s focus, the subplot involving Maisie’s illness is equally well-developed, and the link between Beckett and the twins is heartfelt and sincere.
A thoughtful and pensive tale with intelligent characters and a satisfying romance.Pub Date: Feb. 26, 2019
ISBN: 978-1-64063-533-3
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Entangled: Amara
Review Posted Online: Jan. 2, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2019
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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