A unique look into a culture and era that’s underrepresented in fiction.
Three novellas and a short story track the transformation of an Eastern European village through World War II and Sovietization.
Sadyk is born in the mountains of Azerbaijan, and on the very day he begins his tumultuous life, he loses his mother. He’s raised by his father, Nadzhaf, who sells muskmelons grown on the village’s collective farm, and his Aunt Medina. One day, with little ceremony, Nadzhaf announces that he’s sold the family’s cow and will leave town, likely never to return; he’s been conscripted to fight against the German fascists in the war, and author Aylisli heartbreakingly renders the character’s farewell to his loved ones: “I’ll say what I must. I stand guilty before you, Medina: I’ve driven you into this wretched hole. I’m not coming back. Forgive me, for God’s sake!” He never does return, and Sadyk is raised by Medina and her belligerent husband, Mukush, who’s bitter about the fact that his grandfather’s land has been commandeered by a newly established Soviet collective. Mukush is called to war, as well, and the village is stripped of its able men by a conflict that, as Sadyk sees it, is “poisoning every living thing around it.” In this haunting work, expertly translated from Russian by Young, Aylisli chronicles the transformation of the village through the maturing eyes of Sadyk, who grows from a bookish boy into a student headed for university. The author vividly portrays how Soviet ideology aggressively alters traditional ways of life, as when a factory is sacrilegiously built within a building that houses a mosque. For all its political insight, though, the novel’s heart is its depiction of the relationship between Sadyk and Aunt Medina; even during the most troubled of times, the protagonist takes great solace in believing that “there [is] just the two of us in this endless expanse.” Overall, this is a remarkable work that’s historically edifying and dramatically arresting.
A unique look into a culture and era that’s underrepresented in fiction.Pub Date: Nov. 19, 2024
ISBN: 9781951508425
Page Count: 236
Publisher: Plamen Press
Review Posted Online: Oct. 30, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.
A young woman’s experience as a nurse in Vietnam casts a deep shadow over her life.
When we learn that the farewell party in the opening scene is for Frances “Frankie” McGrath’s older brother—“a golden boy, a wild child who could make the hardest heart soften”—who is leaving to serve in Vietnam in 1966, we feel pretty certain that poor Finley McGrath is marked for death. Still, it’s a surprise when the fateful doorbell rings less than 20 pages later. His death inspires his sister to enlist as an Army nurse, and this turn of events is just the beginning of a roller coaster of a plot that’s impressive and engrossing if at times a bit formulaic. Hannah renders the experiences of the young women who served in Vietnam in all-encompassing detail. The first half of the book, set in gore-drenched hospital wards, mildewed dorm rooms, and boozy officers’ clubs, is an exciting read, tracking the transformation of virginal, uptight Frankie into a crack surgical nurse and woman of the world. Her tensely platonic romance with a married surgeon ends when his broken, unbreathing body is airlifted out by helicopter; she throws her pent-up passion into a wild affair with a soldier who happens to be her dead brother’s best friend. In the second part of the book, after the war, Frankie seems to experience every possible bad break. A drawback of the story is that none of the secondary characters in her life are fully three-dimensional: Her dismissive, chauvinistic father and tight-lipped, pill-popping mother, her fellow nurses, and her various love interests are more plot devices than people. You’ll wish you could have gone to Vegas and placed a bet on the ending—while it’s against all the odds, you’ll see it coming from a mile away.
A dramatic, vividly detailed reconstruction of a little-known aspect of the Vietnam War.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9781250178633
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Nov. 4, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 1, 2023
PERSPECTIVES
BOOK TO SCREEN
SEEN & HEARD
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.
The sequel to It Ends With Us (2016) shows the aftermath of domestic violence through the eyes of a single mother.
Lily Bloom is still running a flower shop; her abusive ex-husband, Ryle Kincaid, is still a surgeon. But now they’re co-parenting a daughter, Emerson, who's almost a year old. Lily won’t send Emerson to her father’s house overnight until she’s old enough to talk—“So she can tell me if something happens”—but she doesn’t want to fight for full custody lest it become an expensive legal drama or, worse, a physical fight. When Lily runs into Atlas Corrigan, a childhood friend who also came from an abusive family, she hopes their friendship can blossom into love. (For new readers, their history unfolds in heartfelt diary entries that Lily addresses to Finding Nemo star Ellen DeGeneres as she considers how Atlas was a calming presence during her turbulent childhood.) Atlas, who is single and running a restaurant, feels the same way. But even though she’s divorced, Lily isn’t exactly free. Behind Ryle’s veneer of civility are his jealousy and resentment. Lily has to plan her dates carefully to avoid a confrontation. Meanwhile, Atlas’ mother returns with shocking news. In between, Lily and Atlas steal away for romantic moments that are even sweeter for their authenticity as Lily struggles with child care, breastfeeding, and running a business while trying to find time for herself.
Through palpable tension balanced with glimmers of hope, Hoover beautifully captures the heartbreak and joy of starting over.Pub Date: Oct. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-668-00122-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 26, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2022
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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