A somewhat predictable but strangely alluring tale of post-Covid love.
In Murray’s novella, a marketing consultant finds that post-pandemic New York City’s online dating scene is much more than he bargained for—and that it could cost him dearly.
As the story opens, it’s 2021, and 50-year-old Matthew is on his very first date after the start of the Covid-19 lockdown. His companion, Samantha, suddenly grabs his hands and squeezes tight: “What’s wrong?” she asks. “You don’t like me touching you?” Things are moving a little too quickly for the masked Matthew, and he immediately recoils from the contact. “Take off your mask and kiss me on the lips,” a thoroughly disgruntled Samantha presses further; before long, she tells him that she’s unvaccinated. Matthew begs off, and the date is effectively over. “Listen Matthew, you’re a handsome guy, but you’re not my type,” Samantha announces. “I’m sure of it.” Matthew lives a sedate and sober existence, and he hasn’t had a long-term relationship in years; he’s in a vulnerable spot when another date, Stacy, upends his life. She’s an unemployed 45-year-old woman with a trust fund, too much time on her hands, and a curiously unexplored fixation on her often-married father. Still, the very attractive Stacy easily insinuates herself into Matthew’s psyche, despite their obvious lack of chemistry from the start. She’s upfront about her struggles with depression, which Matthew appreciates, but he continually—and perplexingly—ignores a red flag: her avowed aversion to healthy relationships. Indeed, her litany of troubles with old boyfriends doesn’t seem to concern Matthew at all; he’s more than willing, for instance, to accompany Stacy on a late-night stroll around Riverside Park, immediately after her former beau, a troubled saxophone player named Hunter, accosts them in a bar.
None of this matters very much, though, because Murray manages to build effective tension and drama through the use of economical and direct dialogue. Each exchange between Stacy and Matthew ends with an anticipation of danger, consistently propelling the story forward. Like a savvy musician who knows the value of not playing too much, the author generates a palpable sense of impending calamity with the notes he elects to leave out, as when Matthew suggests to Stacy in Riverside Park that they should go back to her apartment: “Stacy kissed me again. ‘No. Not yet. Not yet. Let’s try to enjoy this moment fully.’” However, if there’s one area where Murray falters, it’s in his crafting of a decidedly less-than-bombastic climax. The trajectory of Matthew’s journey with Stacy is easy to predict, and its endpoint is ultimately unsurprising, when all is said and done. However, this may not be the best way to evaluate Murray’s adventure. After all, no piece of music can be rightly evaluated on its conclusion alone; rather, one must take into account the experience of listening to it and the feelings that it evokes. The author’s lean story structure hits enough intriguing notes to keep readers’ attention, even if they can probably predict how the final stanza will sound.
A somewhat predictable but strangely alluring tale of post-Covid love.Pub Date: Sept. 11, 2022
ISBN: 9798352202890
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Aug. 26, 2024
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A sweet bedtime story.
A boy and his stuffed bear head into the woods.
Having captured readers’ attention with Born a Crime (2016), his bestselling memoir of growing up in South Africa, comedian and television host Noah has written a parable about decision-making. As he puts it in a brief prologue, “It’s about disagreements and difference—but it’s also about how we bridge those gaps and find what matters most, whether we’re parents or kids, neighbors, gnomes, or political adversaries. It’s a picture book, but it’s not a children’s book. Rather, it is a book for kids to share with parents and for parents to share with kids.” With plentiful illustrations by Hahn and in language aimed at young listeners, it tells the story of a small boy so impatient to start his Saturday adventures that he rebels against the rules of his household and heads out without brushing his teeth or making his bed, despite the reminders of his stuffed bear, Walter. “We can’t just run away,” protests the bear. “Your mother will miss you. And where will we sleep? And who will make us waffles?” “We’ll build our own house,” the boy responds. “And we’ll grow our own waffles!” From there, the pair go on their walkabout, encountering a garden gnome, a pair of snails, and a gang of animated coins who have lessons to offer about making choices. Though the author suggests in the introduction that adult readers might enjoy the book on their own, those looking for a follow-up to the memoir or a foray into adult fiction should be warned that this is not that book.
A sweet bedtime story.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593729960
Page Count: 128
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
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
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