A timely patchwork of fictional bits and pieces that lands few punches.
A compact collection offers fictional vignettes.
The subtitle of this work hints at the form of flash fiction, which is characterized by brevity— usually 100 to 200 words grouped around a pithy hook or twist. Regardless of what the “Flesh Friction” mentioned in that subtitle means (it’s never made clear), the book’s contents reflect the elements of flash fiction. This is a compilation of two dozen or so quick dramatic bits, usually well under a page in length, with the whole book being only a few dozen pages long. Two other features found in flash fiction—slangy delivery and a tendency to sprinkle in sexual references—are likewise present in many of these miniature chapters. Readers should expect explicit sexual references and racial epithets. Throughout these stories, the author invokes figures from the current news cycle—Bill Gates, Betsy DeVos, Kanye West, Donald Trump—and employs plenty of attempts at humor in order to make each vignette snappy and readable. Readers are clearly expected to be already familiar with American politics and culture. McGrouchpants admirably tackles a wide range of provocative subjects and offers some amusing tidbits here. But even knowledgeable readers will sometimes be at a loss since the author frequently lapses into incoherent babbling, as in “Why Big Pharma and Sociopathic Sex Advice-Givers are Shoveling Dirt Over Generation X’ers and Wilhelm Reich’s Graves” and other tales. A postscript to “ ‘FAMILY TIES’ and ‘GROWING PAINS’ Re-Runs Are Reality!” tells readers: “P.S. Try The Marx-Engels Reader, The Federalist Papers, Foucault’s Discipline and Punish, The Interpretation of Dreams, and Trotsky’s The Russian Revolution (Abridged)…or, shut up! Shoot pool”—with the whimsicality obviously intended to be offbeat and cynical. Yet the result often reads like a slightly protracted and extremely disjointed series of in-jokes that fall flat, rendered in prose that’s jumpy and sneering rather than sharp and funny. Even flash fiction fans will likely be disappointed.
A timely patchwork of fictional bits and pieces that lands few punches.Pub Date: June 9, 2017
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 41
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Jan. 5, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.
A disturbing household secret has far-reaching consequences in this dark, unusual ghost story.
Mallory Quinn, fresh out of rehab and recovering from a recent tragedy, has taken a job as a nanny for an affluent couple living in the upscale suburb of Spring Brook, New Jersey, when a series of strange events start to make her (and her employers) question her own sanity. Teddy, the precocious and shy 5-year-old boy she's charged with watching, seems to be haunted by a ghost who channels his body to draw pictures that are far too complex and well formed for such a young child. At first, these drawings are rather typical: rabbits, hot air balloons, trees. But then the illustrations take a dark turn, showcasing the details of a gruesome murder; the inclusion of the drawings, which start out as stick figures and grow increasingly more disturbing and sophisticated, brings the reader right into the story. With the help of an attractive young gardener and a psychic neighbor and using only the drawings as clues, Mallory must solve the mystery of the house's grizzly past before it's too late. Rekulak does a great job with character development: Mallory, who narrates in the first person, has an engaging voice; the Maxwells' slightly overbearing parenting style and passive-aggressive quips feel very familiar; and Teddy is so three-dimensional that he sometimes feels like a real child.
It's almost enough to make a person believe in ghosts.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-81934-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 1, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2022
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.
A British widow travels to Ibiza and learns that it’s never too late to have a happy life.
In a world that seems to be getting more unstable by the moment, Haig’s novels are a steady ship in rough seas, offering a much-needed positive message. In works like the bestselling The Midnight Library (2020), he reminds us that finding out what you truly love and where you belong in the universe are the foundations of building a better existence. His latest book continues this upbeat messaging, albeit in a somewhat repetitive and facile way. Retired British schoolteacher Grace Winters discovers that an old acquaintance has died and left her a ramshackle home in Ibiza. A widow who lost her only child years earlier, Grace is at first reluctant to visit the house, because, at 72, she more or less believes her chance for happiness is over—but when she rouses herself to travel to the island, she discovers the opposite is true. A mystery surrounds her friend’s death involving a roguish islander, his activist daughter, an internationally famous DJ, and a strange glow in the sea that acts as a powerful life force and upends Grace’s ideas of how the cosmos works. Framed as a response to a former student’s email, the narrative follows Grace’s journey from skeptic (she was a math teacher, after all) to believer in the possibility of magic as she learns to move on from the past. Her transformation is the book’s main conflict, aside from a protest against an evil developer intent on destroying Ibiza’s natural beauty. The outcome is never in doubt, and though the story often feels stretched to the limit—this novel could have easily been a novella—the author’s insistence on the power of connection to change lives comes through loud and clear.
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593489277
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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