Readable and entertaining, though the scattering of provocative ideas never quite coheres into a satisfying whole.
An 1883 writers’ conference raises questions still roiling 21st-century America.
Frederick Olmstead Matthews, a junior lecturer at the moss-grown Auburn Collegiate Institute in upstate New York, has tried to get more contemporary American books into the tired literature curriculum, but he “could as well have suggested installing a porcupine as the Institute’s president.” Matthews manages to convince the provost who bankrolls the institute that “a public conversation about the future of America” among Mark Twain, Walt Whitman, Harriet Beecher Stowe, Herman Melville, and Frederick Douglass will enhance the prestige of the institute, the town, and—not so incidentally—the social-climbing provost. By the time the conference begins, Matthews has reluctantly added a former Confederate general and a bestselling female author to the roster, which prompts a local journalist to invite suffragists and supporters of the Lost Cause to attend in the hopes that they will stir up trouble so the journalist’s lurid coverage can get him into the pages of a big-city newspaper. He hardly needed to bother: Hilarious scenes of the conference’s early sessions show Whitman showboating and Twain giving his standard after-dinner speech while Douglass and Melville valiantly try to raise real questions about the darker aspects of American life and Stowe rolls her eyes over the idiocy of the entire gathering. Stoked by racist comments from the former Confederate and Douglass’ angry protests, the final discussion ends in a full-scale riot. Along the way, Piazza lets the bestselling female novelist make some cogent points about the value of domestic fiction and shows Douglass to be weary of his public role as the representative of his race. The intriguing mix of humor and underlying seriousness makes this an engaging change of pace for an author better known for his writings on music and New Orleans. An overall lack of focus, however, is signaled by occasional appearances to no evident purpose of an unnamed conference attendee clearly identifiable as Emily Dickinson.
Readable and entertaining, though the scattering of provocative ideas never quite coheres into a satisfying whole.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9781609388812
Page Count: 200
Publisher: Univ. of Iowa
Review Posted Online: Feb. 22, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2023
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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