An odd grab-bag of 13 stories—fabulisms, minimalisms, and absurdities—each containing a character named Harry and another named Sylvia: a gimmicky device, though it does manage to make the otherwise disparate pieces hang together. ``The Woman on the Bus'' describes a family man (at home, ``Harry plays the part of Harry'') obsessed with a woman who commutes with him on the bus. The juxtaposition between workaday reality and this Harry's fantasy life is apt and revealing of a man who is Walter Mitty-like. ``Harry and Sylvia and Sylvia and So On'' concerns a divorced Harry who replaces wife Sylvia—first with parakeet Sylvia, then with dog Sylvia—and eventually brings home a prostitute, whom he calls Sylvia; the dog attacks the prostitute, and they both disappear into the night. Likewise, ``The Family Album'' is a haunting exploration of a lonely man who begins to receive photos of a Sylvia in the mail, in the beginning weekly, then more intermittently; Harry and his vicarious Sylvia will grow old together. Of the remaining pieces, a few are based on premises merely superficial or silly—``The King of Clubs,'' for instance, is about a Harry on a plane who falls in love with a club sandwich and traces down the Sylvia who makes them for the airline; ``Nuts'' is about a Harry who talks to squirrels—and some others, though promising, just don't quite come off. Absurdist forays into fantasies or eccentricities that are at their best when they're also funny. Some of the pieces first appeared in magazines like Grand Street, North American Review, and The South Carolina Review.
Pub Date: Feb. 25, 1993
ISBN: 1-55713-052-3
Page Count: 160
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 1992
Neal Carey, the Smollett-loving specialist in finding people who don't want to be found (A Cool Breeze on the Underground, 1990), is hustled off to San Francisco to drag AWOL pesticide expert Robert Pendleton away from china doll Li Lan and back to paternal corporation AgriTech. But the fireworks that erupt after Neal's found the happy couple make him wonder whether gorgeous, talented painter Li Lan isn't actually a Communist agent who's trying to woo Pendleton back to her country; by the time Neal has been taken prisoner in the Walled City of Hong Kong, he's already gotten the Communists, the CIA, and AgriTech ready to burn him. And more trouble lies ahead, as shadowy patriarch Xao Xiyang and his treacherous underling Peng plot against each other to manipulate Neal into exposing Pendleton and Li Lan in a climax that still has room for a surprise or two. Despite Neal's inveterate habit of wising off in his mind's mouth, this is a sturdy two evenings' worth of entertainment.
Pub Date: March 18, 1992
ISBN: 0-312-07099-3
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 1992
A laugh-out-loud funny book that will delight longtime Kinsella fans and those looking for a cozy holiday story.
Kinsella’s (I Owe You One, 2019, etc.) much-loved Shopaholic is back—and this time, it’s Christmas.
Becky Brandon is looking forward to spending Christmas with her husband and daughter at her parents’ house, just like always. It’s cozy and warm and, other than her favorite Christmas tradition (shopping), Becky doesn’t have to do much of anything. But then her parents drop a huge surprise—they’re moving to an apartment in the superhip London neighborhood of Shoreditch. Now, instead of Christmas sweaters and carols, they’re into unicycles and avocado toast. Her parents’ transformation into hipsters means that Becky has to host Christmas at her home in Letherby. Becky has no idea how to host a holiday dinner for her entire family and extended network of family friends, but she’s never met a problem she couldn’t shop her way out of. As usual, however, Becky finds herself stuck with a ton of problems. First, she needs to find the perfect gift for her husband, Luke, but in order to get it she just might have to petition an all-male billiards club to accept female members (Becky, of course, doesn’t play billiards). She might be in trouble with the entire country of Norway after creating her own (fictional) version of hygge, “sprygge.” Her environmentally conscious sister wants Becky to decorate a broom instead of a Christmas tree and have a vegan turkey on the table. And then there’s her musician ex-boyfriend who unexpectedly shows up in town with his new girlfriend. With everything on Becky’s plate, will she be able to create the picture-perfect Christmas she dreams of? Becky is still a hardworking, eminently lovable character who just wants to do the right thing, even if she usually screws everything up and finds herself in hilariously awful situations (like, for example, storing 30 pounds of smoked salmon on her front lawn under a duvet).
A laugh-out-loud funny book that will delight longtime Kinsella fans and those looking for a cozy holiday story.Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-593-13282-1
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Dial Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 14, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2019
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