Even if someone left the cake out in the rain, it’s delicious.
A novelist, a producer, and an actress confront their demons on and off a film set.
British author Boyd's 16th novel takes place in Brighton in 1968 and revolves around the making of a film called Emily Bracegirdle's Extremely Useful Ladder to the Moon. The titular trio consists of Elfrida Wing, an alcoholic novelist who hasn't written a book in a decade and whose marriage to the film's director is hanging by a thread; Talbot Kydd, the film's producer, a closeted gay man also in an unhappy marriage; and Anny Viklund, the young American actress playing Emily, who is sleeping with her hunky co-star and continually dosing herself in classic 1960s movie-star style from an abundant pharmacopeia of pills. In addition to these three, a slew of other interesting characters fills out the corners of the novel, giving it the feel of one of Robert Altman's high-spirited ensemble films of this era. Boyd deftly juggles serious and comedic elements, generally favoring the comic, as with Elfrida's many pathetic attempts to convince herself she's getting back on her game. Having been annoyed for most of her career at being compared to Virginia Woolf, she takes it in her head to write a novel based on Woolf's last day on Earth. Over and over she writes the first paragraph—Woolf wakes up, sees a shape the sun is making on the wall (a rhomboid? a parallelogram? a diamond?), has no idea it's the last morning of her life—at which point the author pours herself a glass of vodka to celebrate, and there goes that day. Another running joke involves Talbot's being tormented by the idiotic lyrics of the song "MacArthur Park," which seems to be playing on every radio in the country. His deeper torment regarding his sexuality is highlighted by the changing mores of the period, and he's also got real problems with his movie, which has to be constantly rewritten to work around problems created by its cast.
Even if someone left the cake out in the rain, it’s delicious.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-593-31823-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Knopf
Review Posted Online: Nov. 17, 2020
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2020
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
Saunders has crafted a novel that feels deeply resonant, especially in these fractious times.
Saunders’ second novel represents a magnificent expansion of consciousness.
Unfolding over the course of a single evening, as oil baron K.J. Boone lies on his deathbed, the narrative develops almost entirely in the interior, while encompassing a dizzying exteriority as well. At its center are two characters, one deceased and the other soon to be. The latter, of course, is Boone, a man with much to answer for, although he doesn’t believe that. The other is Jill “Doll” Blaine, the narrator, who died young and has returned to earth from the spirit realm—as she has 343 times since her own demise—to help him make the crossing. If such concerns appear to recall those of the author’s first novel, Lincoln in the Bardo (2017), that both is and isn’t the case. Yes, as the book progresses, it ranges widely, with a variety of ghosts and spirits emerging to comment on or participate in Boone’s final reckoning. At the same time, it’s a sparer work than its predecessor. This has to do with Jill, who moves from memories of her life to engagement with Boone. Always, she reveals empathy and insight, even as his final hours become a dark night of the soul. “No: this, this now, was me,” she tells us: “vast, unlimited in the range and delicacy of my voice, unrestrained in love, rapid in apprehension, skillful in motion, capable, equally, of traversing, within a few seconds’ time, a mile or ten thousand miles.” What she (or, through her, Saunders) is suggesting is the need for generosity, despite, or perhaps because of, Boone’s corrupted soul, which has been riven by a lifetime wallowing in many of the deadly sins, particularly pride and greed. Such openness has long been a hallmark of Saunders’ fiction, and it’s on full display in this elegant and subtle book. “At such moments,” Jill reflects, “I especially cherished my task. I could comfort.”
Saunders has crafted a novel that feels deeply resonant, especially in these fractious times.Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2026
ISBN: 9780525509622
Page Count: 192
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Oct. 9, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 15, 2025
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