A wondrous book of tales of lost worlds.
The best of Yiddish poet Sutzkever’s short stories, made available in English for the first time.
Avrom Sutzkever (1913-2010) is a giant of Yiddish poetry. He was an accomplished author who survived the Vilna ghetto and service in the Lithuanian resistance during World War II to become a major figure in Israel’s revival of Yiddish literature. He increasingly turned to prose in his later years as a means of grappling with his grief over the Holocaust. In the first story here, “Green Aquarium,” the narrator finds himself perched atop the titular structure, as all the dead people he’s ever known swim beneath him. In “The Gopherwood Box,” a man searching for a treasure in a war-ravaged city lowers himself into a well even though he can no longer remember where he first heard of the loot. The earlier stories are shorter and more enigmatic while later ones offer narratives that are more developed. “The Twin,” for example, recounts the tale of a man meeting a woman in Jaffa who tells him a terrible tale of defiance in one of the German death camps. A current of magical realism runs throughout the book as Sutzkever reaches for images appropriate for disruptive times. His skills as a poet are apparent in nearly every sentence, as translated by Berger, who gets across their richness and precision: “The fiery tail of the war was still dragging through the dead city, like a part of a giant prehistoric creature. The black sites of burned-out walls were besieged by clay clouds, as if the clouds were descending to rebuild the city.” It’s easy to see these stories, which use the surreal to understand the unreality of world events, on a continuum of fabulist Jewish writing that includes Franz Kafka and Bruno Schulz as well as contemporary storytellers, such as Etgar Keret and Nathan Englander. Those who are unfamiliar with Sutzkever—or, at least, unacquainted with his prose—will welcome this addition to the canon of experimental short fiction.
A wondrous book of tales of lost worlds.Pub Date: Dec. 1, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73438-725-4
Page Count: 282
Publisher: White Goat Press
Review Posted Online: Jan. 4, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2021
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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