An engrossing collection grounded by the complex emotional dynamics between soldiers and their families.
Kelly presents an anthology of stories reflecting the effects of war on home and family.
Drawing on her experiences as the wife of a fighter pilot during her husband’s three wartime deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan, the author, a novelist and poet, collects here 14 tales inspired by the lives of women affected by military service and war. Kelly observes that the stress and sadness that come with the death of a loved one can often become catalysts for personal change, as evidenced in the opening story, “Finding the Good Light,” in which Diane, emotionally exhausted after attending eight military funerals and divorcing her Navy husband, finds renewal by becoming a Hollywood actress. One of the author’s most obvious storytelling strengths is her credible, acute portrayal of interpersonal tensions, as demonstrated in the memorable “Prayers of an American Wife,” when one Navy wife discovers another, who happens to be her neighbor, enjoying an illicit extramarital affair. While noticing a strange male visitor entering her neighbor’s house through the side door one day, the faithful observing wife finds herself “savagely heartbroken,” nervously clutching her Pomeranian, who’s blissfully “unaware of the betrayal happening just across the lawn.” This knack is evident even in the collection’s shortest tale, “The Strangers of Dubai,” in which a soldier on leave with his wife visits an Afghan gold market with questionable bargaining tactics. The affecting coming-of-age evolution of a military brat in “Rachel’s Story” profiles a girl as she rapidly learns about big-city life, friendship, love, and the precious commodity of time. Kelly clearly channeled her own emotions, confusion, loneliness, sacrifice, and love into these stories illuminating the struggle of family members who may not be fighting wars on the battlefield but are keeping the home fires burning. These themes provide richly resonant material for these well-written short stories about the wartime experience told from the perspectives of those waiting patiently (and impatiently) at home.
An engrossing collection grounded by the complex emotional dynamics between soldiers and their families.Pub Date: Jan. 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781647791445
Page Count: 172
Publisher: University of Nevada Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
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
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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