A whip-smart if sprawling exploration of history and mythology.
An epic exploration of India’s tumultuous history at four pivotal moments.
Deb’s ambitious third novel opens in a near-future India on the verge of collapse. The country’s technological advances have led to the creation of a “superweapon,” the threat of which has sparked violence across the country. Amid the chaos, a former journalist has been tasked with finding a former colleague who might be in possession of troubling government secrets. Flash backward to 1984, as a mercenary strives to track down a man who might be involved in a plot leading to the real-life Union Carbide disaster. Then further back to 1947, the year of Partition, as a veterinary student is on a search for a Vimana, a mythical airship. And finally back to 1859, as a British army officer is on an expedition to the Himalayan home of the White Mughal, leader of a rogue anti-colonial compound. There are common themes across the sections: a quest narrative, questions of how mysticism and the supernatural intersect with colonial and post-colonial realities, how “small wars stitch together the fabric of the future.” Within each section, there’s a lot to like, particularly in the 1984 section, which ably captures the sectarian divides following Indira Gandhi’s assassination and the American imperialism of Union Carbide’s presence, all wrapped around a pitch-black noir narrative. The near-future sections that bookend the novel are engagingly dystopian, blending cyberpunk’s techno-skepticism with Pynchon-ian intrigue. And overall, Deb has accessed the omnivorous, madcap spirit of Midnight’s Children–era Salman Rushdie. Still, there’s little overt connective narrative tissue across the novel’s four sections; Deb is aspiring for the kaleidoscopic, but the overall feel is of loosely related novellas. It’s a visionary novel for sure but not a tight and cohesive one.
A whip-smart if sprawling exploration of history and mythology.Pub Date: May 30, 2023
ISBN: 9781641294669
Page Count: 458
Publisher: Soho
Review Posted Online: March 27, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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