A compelling amalgam of ludicrous humor and sober cultural analysis.
A brilliant woman with Alzheimer’s disease and a not-too-bright conspiracy theorist become entangled in a terrorist plot in Kirk’s satirical novel.
For 20 years, Maryland resident Andy MacClean allowed his wife, Melody, to assume leadership over their lives; after all, he’s not the smartest man, and she’s a bona fide genius with multiple doctorates and a successful career as a corporate executive at a reinsurance company. However, she also suffers from early-onset Alzheimer’s, so Andy finds himself forced to assume responsibilities for which he’s deeply unprepared. He’s also become a devoted supporter of ex-president Donald Trump, and he’s convinced that his hero only lost the election because it was rigged by evil elites; in fact, Andy believes just about every bizarre conspiracy theory that Trump and his disciples espouse. Things take a strange turn when Andy—who’s nicknamed “Handcream” because he used it to treat his dyshidrotic eczema in high school—rescues 17-year-old Telly Kind from her stepfather, Lutz Delorean, the police chief of Damascus, Maryland, when the latter attempts to kidnap her. When Melody discovers that Lutz implanted a microchip into Telly’s hand, she thinks that the teen is a pawn in some sort of nefarious plot hatched by her stepdad—who has his own sordid reasons to loathe America. Over the course of this book, Kirk delivers a thoroughly farcical plot with eccentric humor; at one point, for instance, the none-too-sharp Andy is said to take “information in on a catch-and-release basis.” Along the way, he shrewdly plumbs the depths of the chaotic American political psyche, and, in particular, many of its angry citizens’ attraction to bombast: “Loud is the best answer to everything. You know that movie with all the fast action scenes that were impossible, but the speed with which they flew by suspended your skepticism? Political rally organizers took note.” Overall, it’s a delightfully strange and refreshing work that effectively combines a comedic wildness with a clear-eyed political commentary.
A compelling amalgam of ludicrous humor and sober cultural analysis.Pub Date: July 2, 2024
ISBN: 9798326563088
Page Count: 442
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2024
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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