A moving account of friendship in the shadow of the Japanese Southern Expansion policy.
A (fictional) Japanese writer explores the colorful and complex culinary, linguistic, and political dynamics that shaped life in 1930s Taiwan.
Originally published in Mandarin Chinese in 2021, the book is presented as a translation of a rediscovered 1954 Japanese novel by a young writer named Aoyama Chizuko. Based on the fame of a film adaptation of her novel A Record of Youth, Aoyama is invited on a lecture tour by the government-general of Taiwan and a women’s group. She lands on a busy, colorful island where “everything teemed and surged toward me under the cobalt sky.” Amidst the frenzy of “charades-like gesturing” in the process of negotiating with a marketplace fruit vendor, she is rescued by a charming young woman, who turns out to be her translator. As she and the woman, whom she nicknames Chi-chan, travel together, she finds herself drawn into an increasingly deeper friendship and begins to think that all is not as it seems. For the daughter of a concubine who was sent to live with her mother’s poor jute-farming family, Chi-chan reveals an amazing proficiency with languages; she is also well versed in popular culture and remarkably skilled at rolling dice. As Aoyama insists on probing her friend about her past, Chi-chan continues to hold back, insisting that the closeness she longs for is out of reach. Their journey together approaches its end, and Aoyama gets closer to uncovering Chi-chan’s true history, but will that bring them closer together or tear them further apart? Yáng's sharp observation blends with sensitive, sometimes subversive political meditations to create a colorful portrait of pre–World War II Taiwan.
A moving account of friendship in the shadow of the Japanese Southern Expansion policy.Pub Date: Nov. 12, 2024
ISBN: 9781644453155
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Graywolf
Review Posted Online: Aug. 30, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2024
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
Though uneven, this is still a pleasurable, comforting read.
Infertility, family secrets, and alpacas all figure in Quindlen’s latest meditation on mothering and domesticity.
Polly’s life looks enviable. Happily married to the adoring Mark—a vet at the Bronx Zoo—she teaches English at a private Manhattan girls’ school and loves her work. She has a protective older brother and close girlfriends, who’ve formed a book club where no one is expected to read the book. But Polly desperately wants a child and, at 42, knows time is running out. She and Mark have gone through endless fertility treatments, to no avail. Meantime, Polly’s friends have given her a DNA kit as a jokey birthday gift, and something mysterious shows up in the test results. Then, out of nowhere, a young woman contacts her, suggesting they may be related. That’s not all: Polly feels estranged from her mother, a revered judge who’s insufficiently maternal in her daughter’s view. Her father has always cherished her, but he’s in a nursing home now with a rapidly failing mind. And something is amiss with her best pal, Sarah. Quindlen’s trademark empathy is evident throughout, and her wry humor leavens some of the serious goings-on. Early on, Mark and Polly visit a fertility clinic with photos of babies in the waiting room; for Polly, “it felt…like a Weight Watchers facility with hot fudge sundae pictures on the wall.” Then we meet these charming alpacas, humming and pronking, on a farm run by an earth mother, whose wisdom will help Polly get on with her life. The plot swerves around a bit, there may be one surplus narrative thread (e.g., Polly’s star student Josephine running aground after graduation), and at the end, the author ties things up too neatly, pushing the “circle of life” theme too hard.
Though uneven, this is still a pleasurable, comforting read.Pub Date: Feb. 24, 2026
ISBN: 9780593734605
Page Count: 256
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
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