A bizarre and playfully entertaining critique of highbrow literary culture.
Marley presents a satirical collection of literary short stories.
The stories in this assemblage ostensibly come from American writers both living and dead; an explanatory note in the preface states the collection was put together “over the course of more than a quarter century.” Each story comes with a brief bio of its “author” and some explanatory comments by “the editor.” The contributors include John DeLuca, whose work “enjoyed modest readership in American middle schools throughout the early ’90s.” DeLuca’s “Long Gone John”concerns one man’s search for his son. Morris Sweedum’s “That Last Weekend When I Was in Rome” features an anxious young American in Italy; Sweedum, as the reader is repeatedly reminded, suffered from psychiatric disorders. Mareç Fonteneau’s “Yours Forever, Winsome Jim” is about the young lover of a bank robber. The editor reports that he was introduced to Fonteneau’s work when he dined with another editor who was busy promoting “Meine Liebster Emmy: The Private Communiqués of the Göring Family.” Clayton Oliver Grant, whose home in Montpelier is reportedly now a museum, contributes “The Watch Man.” In this tale, a man named Leo Gerome repairs pocket watches but is losing his eyesight. The writers and their cited works are all fictitious, right down to the acclaim they have supposedly received. (Fonteneau allegedly won the “Stanley T. Cartman Prize for Writing in 1963,” an award that seemingly references the TV show South Park.) Marley effectively skewers the American short story; “The Watch Man” is as dull and earnest as they come, offering bland passages like “Leo Gerome puts the the kettle on and searches the cupboards for something scrummy.” While the stories can move slowly, there is fun to be found in many absurd details. A reference to an “Abbie Hoffman Memorial Library in Carpenter, Oklahoma” seems reasonable on the surface—that is, until one stops to consider the question: On the off chance an Abbie Hoffman Memorial library actually existed, what would it be doing in Carpenter, Oklahoma?
A bizarre and playfully entertaining critique of highbrow literary culture.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: July 17, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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