A pointed but hazy bildungsroman with little in the way of plot.
A woman seeks freedom from an oppressive system in Steinberg’s novel.
From a young age, Arianna observes the world around her in Texas, trying to make sense of the stories her sister, Lori, tells; her father’s and grandfather’s drinking; and the condescending way that her teachers talk to her. She knows that their family is poor but that “their poverty was special. Them being poor was in the moonlight with her mother singing and her grandfather playing the violin.” Young Arianna also observes other power dynamics around her, particularly between men and women (rendered as mxnand womxn). When she reaches adulthood, she manages to escape to college, but she still deals with the complexities of sex, gender, money, and religion. As she moves on to grad school and eventually marriage and children of her own, can Arianna find freedom of expression, or will she be anchored forever to the same dynamics that informed her early years? Steinberg’s prose is effectively layered and fluid, shifting between Arianna’s stream-of-consciousness thoughts and the editorializing voice of a third-person narrator. In both registers, however, the dense text is often unclear in its meaning. At one point, for example, Arianna (or the narrator) discusses an English paper on sex and religion: “It was the kind of topic that everyone wished they had and no one wanted to talk about; like the way a naked womxn felt in a movie walking towards a bed, knowing everyone in the world was going to have their own opinion of exactly what she was doing there.” Why exactly is the topic so desired yet forbidden, and how is it related to the imagined thoughts of a nude actor? Such unexplained assertions are a recurring feature of the text. The book sets itself up as a tale of critique and rebellion, but with its nebulous narrative and a cipher for a protagonist, it befuddles much more than it enlightens.
A pointed but hazy bildungsroman with little in the way of plot.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2021
ISBN: 979-8455358999
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Sept. 22, 2021
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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