An entertaining but disjointed send-up of Hollywood shenanigans and clichés.
Readers follow the increasingly deranged production of a Hollywood film headed by a notoriously troubled director.
Fashioned as a nonfiction account of a doomed Hollywood production, the novel focuses on the bizarre antics of Director (a famously problematic but talented man clearly fashioned after Stanley Kubrick) and the two married leads (stand-ins for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise) starring in an 8-years-in-the-making movie based on an erotic novella entitled “Tre Noi” (“The Three of Us”). But as Writer soon discovers, updating the tale from 19th-century Italy to modern-day America proves more challenging than previously thought. Add to that the marital aggressions between Actor and Actress, copious drug use, and the tragic personal sacrifices Director makes in the name of art, and the entire production seems to be hurtling toward imminent disaster. While fictional, the novel incorporates occasional real-world happenings, such as the introduction of a Covid-like virus that is rumored to be spreading. Readers are also introduced to various real-life film-making insights, including insider slang (“NG” as shorthand for “No Good,” for example) and the sheer number of people need to make a production work. Strick’s deep dive into an ill-fated film reflects a love for movies that hardcore film buffs may enjoy tackling. Unfortunately, stilted dialogue (“Cut to the chase, bitch”) and a lack of any character development combine to create a cast of caricatures (the eccentric director, the beleaguered writer, etc.). This point is driven home by the fact that nearly all characters don’t have names, just designations (Agent, Assistant, etc.)—a choice that also makes the narrative particularly choppy: “CAMERA slowly PANS the COURTROOM, past the TWELVE attentive JURORS (and one ALTERNATE) to the SPECTATORS and INTERESTED PARTIES in attendance. OVER, we HEAR the OFFSCREEN VOICE of a MAN whom our movie audience will recognize as belonging to ACTOR.” The novel, while often clever, ultimately reads as both a parody and homage to filmmaking without actually landing on either one.
An entertaining but disjointed send-up of Hollywood shenanigans and clichés.Pub Date: Sept. 21, 2023
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 463
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Oct. 20, 2025
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
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with...
Talk-show queen takes tumble as millions jeer.
Nora Bridges is a wildly popular radio spokesperson for family-first virtues, but her loyal listeners don't know that she walked out on her husband and teenaged daughters years ago and didn't look back. Now that a former lover has sold racy pix of naked Nora and horny himself to a national tabloid, her estranged daughter Ruby, an unsuccessful stand-up comic in Los Angeles, has been approached to pen a tell-all. Greedy for the fat fee she's been promised, Ruby agrees and heads for the San Juan Islands, eager to get reacquainted with the mom she plans to betray. Once in the family homestead, nasty Ruby alternately sulks and glares at her mother, who is temporarily wheelchair-bound as a result of a post-scandal car crash. Uncaring, Ruby begins writing her side of the story when she's not strolling on the beach with former sweetheart Dean Sloan, the son of wealthy socialites who basically ignored him and his gay brother Eric. Eric, now dying of cancer and also in a wheelchair, has returned to the island. This dismal threesome catch up on old times, recalling their childhood idylls on the island. After Ruby's perfect big sister Caroline shows up, there's another round of heartfelt talk. Nora gradually reveals the truth about her unloving husband and her late father's alcoholism, which led her to seek the approval of others at the cost of her own peace of mind. And so on. Ruby is aghast to discover that she doesn't know everything after all, but Dean offers her subdued comfort. Happy endings await almost everyone—except for readers of this nobly preachy snifflefest.
The best-selling author of tearjerkers like Angel Falls (2000) serves up yet another mountain of mush, topped off with syrupy platitudes about life and love.Pub Date: March 1, 2001
ISBN: 0-609-60737-5
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2001
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