A kooky treasure, rooted in the deeply literary, slightly askew interior world that makes this author’s work so fine.
A writing professor haunted by mysteries in her past—and by moths, bridges, unfinished student stories, and her husband’s lover’s nightguard—returns to the scene of her parents’ deaths.
This book, which centers on uncanny coincidences and a fatal bridge collapse, enters the world in the immediate wake of the collapse of Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge, adding a poignant depth charge to the sophisticated dark comedy this author is known for. Coll, who successfully mined her career as a bookstore events planner in Bookish People (2022), now gives us Cassie Klein, an endearing woman who teaches fiction at a community college and finds herself losing sleep over the predicaments never resolved in student work: “Sometimes I wonder if I am anyone at all, or just a composite of the people I know and the stories I’ve read.” But Cassie is also carrying around a few stories of her own: the very public mistakes of her Richard Gere–look-alike weatherman husband, whose relationship with their supposed family friend is revealed when the woman’s dental apparatus shows up on Cassie’s nightstand, and the enigma of her parents’ deaths in a (real) 1967 West Virginia bridge collapse when she was just 2, the same one that inspired the 2002 movie The Mothman Prophecies, starring Richard Gere as a weatherman. As the book opens, a few days before Christmas, Cassie is heading over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge to spend the holiday Jewish style (i.e., eating Chinese food) with the aunt and uncle who raised her, the former a beloved NPR personality. A moth in her car causes some problems on the way, and then, as usual, her aunt and uncle won’t answer a single question about what happened to her parents. But this time, Cassie tears out in her ancient Audi for West Virginia, where she will find everything she’s looking for, and then some. Coll’s deadpan narrative voice, once it hits you, is like when a stand-up comic finds your funny bone and you just can’t stop laughing. And yet the laughter never fails to somehow encompass the obduracy of loss and other woes of this mortal coil.
A kooky treasure, rooted in the deeply literary, slightly askew interior world that makes this author’s work so fine.Pub Date: May 21, 2024
ISBN: 9781400234141
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Harper Muse
Review Posted Online: April 17, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2024
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
SEEN & HEARD
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.
A travel writer has one last shot at reconnecting with the best friend she just might be in love with.
Poppy and Alex couldn't be more different. She loves wearing bright colors while he prefers khakis and a T-shirt. She likes just about everything while he’s a bit more discerning. And yet, their opposites-attract friendship works because they love each other…in a totally platonic way. Probably. Even though they have their own separate lives (Poppy lives in New York City and is a travel writer with a popular Instagram account; Alex is a high school teacher in their tiny Ohio hometown), they still manage to get together each summer for one fabulous vacation. They grow closer every year, but Poppy doesn’t let herself linger on her feelings for Alex—she doesn’t want to ruin their friendship or the way she can be fully herself with him. They continue to date other people, even bringing their serious partners on their summer vacations…but then, after a falling-out, they stop speaking. When Poppy finds herself facing a serious bout of ennui, unhappy with her glamorous job and the life she’s been dreaming of forever, she thinks back to the last time she was truly happy: her last vacation with Alex. And so, though they haven’t spoken in two years, she asks him to take another vacation with her. She’s determined to bridge the gap that’s formed between them and become best friends again, but to do that, she’ll have to be honest with Alex—and herself—about her true feelings. In chapters that jump around in time, Henry shows readers the progression (and dissolution) of Poppy and Alex’s friendship. Their slow-burn love story hits on beloved romance tropes (such as there unexpectedly being only one bed on the reconciliation trip Poppy plans) while still feeling entirely fresh. Henry’s biggest strength is in the sparkling, often laugh-out-loud-funny dialogue, particularly the banter-filled conversations between Poppy and Alex. But there’s depth to the story, too—Poppy’s feeling of dissatisfaction with a life that should be making her happy as well as her unresolved feelings toward the difficult parts of her childhood make her a sympathetic and relatable character. The end result is a story that pays homage to classic romantic comedies while having a point of view all its own.
A warm and winning "When Harry Met Sally…" update that hits all the perfect notes.Pub Date: May 11, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-9848-0675-8
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: March 2, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
PERSPECTIVES
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