A thoughtful and affecting dystopian parable.
In Saunders’ speculative novel, a girl with unusual abilities comes of age in a misogynist society after her mother is jailed for “seagull terrorism.”
The story opens with the young, unnamed protagonist suffering from a spontaneous skin rash sprouting bird feathers; such strange physical transformations, which she calls “leaky boundaries,” trouble her throughout her life. At one point, she feels goldfish suddenly appear in her stomach; at another, she vomits staples while at work. When she was little, her mother, Shirley Jones, was hauled away by authoritarian “blue-uniforms”; she’s one of many women who’ve been accused of poisoning birds as a terrorist act, sometimes causing them to act violently—though it becomes clear that the real reason that animals are acting so strangely is due to massive pollution, caused, in part, by the manufacture of “POP’S COLA.” As a young woman, the protagonist becomes involved with an unnamed, self-centered musician; when he gets a job with a group of Elvis impersonators, she follows him to desolate High Plains, Nevada, where their relationship deteriorates. At its best, Saunders’ tense prose calls to mind the experimental work of Renee Gladman, and her worldbuilding recalls J.G. Ballard, as when a band of protestors joyfully documents the death of a cow on their cell phones: “What are you filming? the woman asks…Decay, they say, not looking up.” The imagery is simultaneously off-kilter and razor-sharp (“The reporter’s voice cuts into the girl’s ears like steel whorls. Stepping outside, she can taste the sea, its blue relief, and hear the rattling of animals in the bushes”), which makes the main character’s journey consistently compelling and dreamlike. The society in which the protagonist lives, which detests women and cracks down on even mild dissent, is sketched with little subtlety at times (one protestor’s sign states, “EXCLUSIVELY BLAMING WOMEN IS A CRIME ITSELF”), but it feels grimly familiar. The novel’s insights into toxic masculinity are especially cogent; the cultish, all-male “All-Elvis enclave” is initially amusing, but its corrupting influence on the main character’s boyfriend—who shows increasing contempt for her, and for all women, as the narrative progresses—gives the joke a jagged edge.
A thoughtful and affecting dystopian parable.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781573662086
Page Count: 159
Publisher: Fiction Collective 2
Review Posted Online: Dec. 20, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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
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
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