A treasure trove of subtle insights and narrative ingenuity.
A collection of short stories reflecting on the nature of writers and writing.
Young’s thoughtful assemblage of 21 short stories eclectically spans a wide range of human experiences, but writing itself is the theme to which he repeatedly returns. In “Window of Opportunity,” Jack Severall, a character who reappears in several other tales, was a popular student in high school, considered by many to be of great promise. He now teaches English at a community college and works on a novel he hopes will redeem his aspirations. He’s surprised and somewhat crestfallen when one of his classmates, Jim Linderman, who admired Jack deeply, publishes a novel first, a work Jack must admit is an expression of true talent; this challenges his sense of identity. Jack also features in “An Academic Story,” which is exactly that: a discussion between Jack and one Dr. O’Reilly about various interpretation of James Joyce’s short stories. This is the height of the author’s literariness: a short story about short stories. Not all of the pieces are quite so self-consciously belletristic—in “Lefty,” Saed is caught seducing a married woman and sentenced to having his right hand cut off. He is left-handed and studiously tries to hide this fact in order to keep his dominant appendage, an extraordinary predicament powerfully depicted in only a few pages. Previously, his southpaw status had been a cause of endless trouble: “His left-handedness had been a source of many a cruel joke growing up. His parents had tried to convert him, giving up only upon witnessing his success at cricket as a lefty.” Young possesses a keen eye for psychological eccentricity, the strangeness that makes people fascinating—especially in the peculiar subset of people who love to read fiction and long to compose their own. He writes with in an easy, companionable style that is accessible but capable of poetic poignancy.
A treasure trove of subtle insights and narrative ingenuity.Pub Date: Feb. 27, 2025
ISBN: 9781734423662
Page Count: 145
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: March 29, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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 debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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