An illuminating, if sometimes wordy, exploration of recent history and the people who lived through it.
Desai’s novel explores varied perspectives on life during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is the summer of 2020. Twelve Americans arrive at a mansion in the Hamptons. Everyone has been in lockdown for months due to Covid-19, but now they are free to interact with others. The plan is for “two weeks of eating, activities, and dating in a secure environment,” though the main draw will be storytelling. The guests come from different political, economic, and racial backgrounds, and each is to tell a story to the others about the impact of Covid-19. The group has been assembled by a wealthy man named Olive Mixer. (While the scenario may seem like the premise of a reality TV show, Mixer insists that the goings-on are not being recorded.) In this first installment of a series, six of the participants have their turns to say their pieces. These range from a nurse named Andrea who talks about “how ordinary people who work essential jobs stood up to this horrendous virus” to a part-time handyman named Ricard who doesn’t quite trust Freemasons. In between the stories there is socializing, games, and even a shark attack (not to mention large and varied meals). Food is mentioned quite a lot throughout the book—one character tells of a dinner in Montana that included “trout, pinto bean, and ham soup with fry bread, chillicothe, sirloin mutton” as well as “a dessert called kuchen, a cross between cake and pie filled with, in this case, flathead cherries.” Details like these culinary lists do not exactly leap from the page; what proves to be more impactful are the reflections of the guests, which do indeed run a gamut. Ricard, for instance, offends just about everyone present with his story, causing most to sit in “silent disdain” as they listen to him speak. The fictional characters’ sentiments are carefully crafted, offering an intriguing range of realistic reactions to the Covid-19 pandemic.
An illuminating, if sometimes wordy, exploration of recent history and the people who lived through it.Pub Date: Sept. 15, 2025
ISBN: 9781734727821
Page Count: 467
Publisher: The New Wei LLC
Review Posted Online: July 9, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
SEEN & HEARD
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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