An intellectually intriguing, if sometimes-dry, account of a physicist’s philosophical growth.
A physicist joins a secretive philosophical society in Modis’ fictionalized account of true events.
Ted seems as if he was destined to become a scientist, as he “had been passionately attracted to physics from a tender age.” But long after achieving professional success and respectability working in Geneva for CERN, “the most important laboratory for particle physics in the world,” he experiences a nagging “disenchantment” with “hard science.” He feels that it has failed to generate practical applications for ordinary life and to tackle big questions, such the purpose of humanity. With Aris and Mihali, two of his friends from graduate school, he forms a group that meets for “intellectual introspective get-togethers”—free-wheeling discussions that are unrestrained by the strictures of academic science. The trio becomes particularly intoxicated by the ruminations of George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, a 20th-century philosopher for whom a European institute is named, which Ted tracks down and joins. Modis meticulously chronicles Ted’s fascinating philosophical awakening, which expresses itself first as an exercise in being “unfaithful to science” and then in an exploration of ways to mine science for far-reaching wisdom. At one point, Ted forcefully answers an objection that he’s “cheapening” science: “Science is not meant to be locked up in ivory towers and be accessible only to a select group of people. It is meant to deliver value by all possible means, including ways not anticipated by scientists.” Although the story is presented like fiction, with a third-person perspective, the book is Modis’ self-proclaimed “personal account of true events and real people,” and it reads like a memoir more than it does a novel. The real drama of the book is in the tension between the intellectual and the emotional, and the author provides a thoughtful, if sometimes forbidding, account of his characters’ philosophical peregrinations. Overall, Modis offers a lively discussion even if it frequently feels like excerpts from a textbook.
An intellectually intriguing, if sometimes-dry, account of a physicist’s philosophical growth.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 203
Publisher: Ibidem Press
Review Posted Online: April 9, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2020
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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