A lyrical, unsparing, intricately woven, if not always surprising, portrait of a celebrated writer.
A debut novel focuses on a surly literary star.
Marvin Goodspeed has found great success as an author. He left the corporate world to write a “satirical epic” of modern life that has fans entranced. Even if some critics are skeptical, his first book, The Satellite Man,has sold well. Not that the casual onlooker would know Marv is a famous writer. He drinks a lot, spending a good deal of his time at a local establishment called Asa Inman Blue Ribbon Buffet. He’ll also smash a radio to smithereens if it disturbs his writing. He’ll even turn violent in an interview if the questions get too confrontational. When readers first meet Marv, it is 1997. He lives in a Southern city in the midst of a revitalization/gentrification movement. Though gang violence occasionally occurs, the place features hip curiosities like a former gas station that’s been turned into a cool bar. This city is also home to an alternative local paper called The Weekly. Cyrus Cleburne is an enterprising Weeklyjournalist bent on trying to get to the bottom of the renowned local author and all that makes him tick. The prose throughout Buckhout’s stylized literary novel produces dense poetry. Marv’s city includes a “zone separating the immaculate staged snapshot city leaders wish to portray from the cordoned-off beat down blocks no one outside them needs know exist.” At one point, Marv reflects on how, for the average worker, “freedom is painfully incremental, a thing achieved in small slivers over expanses of well-murdered time, if at all.” Such passages paint vivid, nuanced pictures. But some of the details about Marv’s complex journey are not as enthralling. Readers learn much about his life, such as the events at the bar he frequents and the day he broke free from the corporate world. The activities at the bar are exactly what readers would expect (arguments over Bob Dylan; excitement about a baseball game). Marv’s freedom story is equally predictable (he’d “stopped not even to clean out his desk”). Readers will instead be interested in finding out where the truculent protagonist will eventually land. After all, the ’90s won’t last forever. What will the future hold for a wild genius like Marv?
A lyrical, unsparing, intricately woven, if not always surprising, portrait of a celebrated writer.Pub Date: April 22, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-63649-576-7
Page Count: 382
Publisher: Atmosphere Press
Review Posted Online: Nov. 16, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.
A recently divorced writer juggles a chaotic full house, a struggling career, and a confusing romantic life.
Lila Kennedy thought she had the perfect family—a loving mother, a doting stepfather, two wonderful daughters, and a great husband. She even wrote a self-help book about repairing a marriage, which was published a mere two weeks before her husband left her. After her own mother’s sudden death, Lila finds herself an unexpected single mom with her health-nut stepfather, Bill, for a roommate. When her long-absent actor father, Gene, moves in, things go from crowded to chaotic. When Gene isn’t talking about his memories of starring on a Star Trek–like television show, he’s starting fights with Bill. Perhaps the worst part is that Lila’s supposed to produce a new book about the unexpected direction her life has taken. She quickly finds that writing about her real-life romantic exploits (including the kind gardener Bill hired and the sexy single dad she lusts after at school pick-up) and the actual heartbreak that upended her family is easier said than done. Moyes creates a world that is believable and funny. It’s hilarious to read about the distinct characters in Lila’s life—such as her lentil-loving stepfather and egocentric biological father—interacting with each other. There’s plenty of drama here, but none of it feels forced. It all comes from flawed people doing their best to coexist and making plenty of mistakes along the way. Moyes combines the warmth of an Annabel Monaghan rom-com with the humanity of a Catherine Newman novel, creating a story that will provoke tears and laughter.
A moving, realistic look at one woman’s post-divorce family life that manages to be both poignant and funny.Pub Date: Feb. 11, 2025
ISBN: 9781984879325
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Pamela Dorman/Viking
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2024
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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