A nuanced, compelling exploration of isolation and grief.
Two traumatized people make a connection in Weissman’s novel.
Peter Berry isa man who lost his father in a car crash and his mother in a mysterious incident, and Sofia Morales is an Argentinian-born woman who left her husband after their daughter went missing. Now, the pair live across from each other in a San Francisco apartment building, and they slowly open up, sharing meals as well as stories from their pasts. Alternating among the storylines, the episodes serve more to map the emotional landscapes of the characters than to connect the dots of their lives. Peter’s memories are of years spent traveling in Machu Picchu and Sydney and of his mother Sam’s descent into depression following his father’s death. A haunting image resurfaces throughout: Sam sailing away in a bathtub, accompanied by Peter’s teddy bear, Claus. Part memory, part hallucination, this moment holds the key to Peter’s nightmares, his obsessive traveling, and his reluctance to get close to people—a survival strategy that’s put to the test when he meets Carly, a charming museum curator. Sofia’s story unfolds in equally tragic and beautifully rendered flashbacks; her happy marriage to Gaston collapses after their college-student daughter, Valentina, disappears from a protest in Buenos Aires. Sofia tries everything—prayers, repeated inquiries at the police station, even joining forces with an organization of mothers of missing children. In the end, she must face the toll that Valentina’s disappearance placed on her marriage. The novel masterfully dissolves the line between present and memory, between what’s real and what’s imagined to create a touching portrait of family ties disintegrating after a loss. The episodes occasionally meander, and meaning tends to get lost in abstract, if poetic, language; for instance, Sam’s bathtub conversations with Claus will puzzle readers as much as they reveal Sam’s troubled state of mind. Overall, though, the book is an affecting portrait of Peter’s and Sofia’s suffering. San Francisco provides a fitting background with its foggy weather, redwoods, and landmarks that Weissman expertly uses to establish mood and atmosphere.
A nuanced, compelling exploration of isolation and grief.Pub Date: Nov. 15, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-59211-174-9
Page Count: 264
Publisher: Addison & Highsmith
Review Posted Online: Sept. 23, 2022
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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