Murdoch proves he’s as good a novelist as he is a musician.
A young Scottish man waits for the moment to come when his composure returns.
“I’m just nervous,” says Stephen, the narrator of singer-songwriter Murdoch’s debut novel. “I’m nervous when I wake up and nervous when I go to bed.” Stephen, 23, is plagued with anxiety, but that’s not all—he’s also navigating the end of a romantic relationship, and, for the past three years, has been laid low by myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: “Imagine having the first day of a cold or the flu every day of your life. Feeling sick and weak and…poisoned every day. It’s what that does to you. It’s the days and the years. It fucks everything up.” He spends his days in Glasgow listening to his beloved music, or hanging out with his friend Carrie and flatmate, Richard, both of whom also struggle with ME/CFS. After appointments with doctors prove fruitless, Stephen and Richard decide to take a three-month trip to California, hoping the sun and American medical science will improve the state they’re in. The pair make the most of their Golden State adventure, playing music, making friends, and eventually realizing that while ill, they’re still capable of doing things they love. Not much happens in this novel—as Stephen says, “This is not a heavenly story, this is a slow human story, where people keep trundling along, jostled and occasionally pricked by circumstances and tripped up by their feelings.” But that’s what makes it so accomplished. Murdoch drills down deep into the character of Stephen while not neglecting the others; he clearly sympathizes with a young man with a horrible disease that not long ago was derided as “the yuppie flu,” its sufferers gaslit when they sought treatment. (To be clear, this, unfortunately, still happens.) Fans of Murdoch’s band, Belle and Sebastian, will appreciate a few Easter eggs that the author includes (ever wonder how Sukie ended up in that art school?), but you don’t have to be an indie-pop fan to appreciate this compassionate, sweet, beautifully written novel.
Murdoch proves he’s as good a novelist as he is a musician.Pub Date: Jan. 21, 2025
ISBN: 9780063383456
Page Count: 432
Publisher: HarperVia
Review Posted Online: Oct. 26, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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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