An outlandish novel that delivers wonderful laughs.
In Corbin’s debut satire, a pastor feels lost in a world that accepts all sexual orientations.
At the opening of Corbin’s novel, a stunning archaeological discovery in Syria has upended religion and culture all around the world: The oldest copy of the Gospel of Mark reveals that Jesus ministered to a gay man and declared him “blessed among all people.” However, amid a wave of coming-out celebrations and “voluntary reparations programs,” not everyone is happy about the sudden shift to acceptance. Twenty-seven-year-old Pastor Rick Harris of Hickory, North Carolina, takes after his gruff father—who was pastor of their church before him—and delivers a fire-and-brimstone warning against anyone believing in this so-called “New Revelation.” But his elders inform him that times have changed, and Rick either has to attend an “atonement camp” in Virginia or lose his job. There to greet him at the airport are drag performer counselors Marilyn Man Hoe and the “indelible” Eileen Right, who pop champagne in the car as they welcome the square, disgusted Rick to a camp with luxurious 700-thread-count sheets, seminars on the AIDS crisis, and a troupe of shirtless, helpful pool boys (even though there’s no pool at the camp). Rick befriends other attendees, including his roommate, Jimmy Simons, and they set off on a wild investigation after Rick receives a mysterious note telling him the camp is not as it seems and that he must seek out the truth. At the same time, however, Rick can’t deny childhood memories that resurface or his growing, loving bond with Jimmy, which will challenge his beliefs.
Over the course of the story, Corbin offers readers a clever inversion of societal pressures that yields a wealth of possibilities for exploring themes of homophobia and self-acceptance. The author manages to find a wealth of gags in the topsy-turvy world he’s created in these pages, and he pits Rick against larger-than-life characters who deliver scathing takedowns alongside gentle messages of self-care. The book often goes in for obvious jokes, playing with gay stereotypes left and right, but its punchlines really hit home thanks to Corbin’s fast pacing and quick wit. Some of the standout moments along the way include a scene in which clueless straight people deduce that BDSM–related items are torture devices and Eileen’s delightful quips, such as “If all the gays are in Hell, Rick, I’m sure we’ve at least doubled the property value.” Rick’s flashbacks to his first love and his first real experience with shame are genuinely powerful as he remembers suddenly shifting from ecstasy to dread during a key encounter. There are more relatable, tender moments always bubbling under the surface of Corbin’s zany tale, but as it moves into the second act, there’s a madcap dash of secret societies, shifting alliances, surprising reveals, and conspiracies that run all the way to the highest levels. Much like Rick’s thoughts when he partakes in the camp’s bottomless mimosas, the plotlines and motivations become a bit fuzzy—but they’re certainly fun.
An outlandish novel that delivers wonderful laughs.Pub Date: Sept. 2, 2020
ISBN: 978-1-73543-850-4
Page Count: 354
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: April 18, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 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
Though Hilderbrand threatens to kill all our darlings with this last laugh, her acknowledgments say it’s just “for now.”
A stranger comes to town, and a beloved storyteller plays this creative-writing standby for all it’s worth.
Hilderbrand fans, a vast and devoted legion, will remember Blond Sharon, the notorious island gossip. In what is purportedly the last of the Nantucket novels, Blond Sharon decides to pursue her lifelong dream of fiction writing. In the collective opinion of the island—aka the “cobblestone telegraph”—she’s qualified. “Well, we think, she’s certainly demonstrated her keen interest in other people’s stories, the seedier and more salacious, the better.” Blond Sharon’s first assignment in her online creative writing class is to create a two-person character study, and Hilderbrand has her write up the two who arrive on the ferry in an opening scene of the book, using the same descriptors Hilderbrand has. Amusingly, the class is totally unimpressed. “‘I found it predictable,’ Willow said. ‘Like maybe Sharon used ChatGPT with the prompt “Write a character study about two women getting off the ferry, one prep and one punk.”’” Blond Sharon abandons these characters, but Hilderbrand thankfully does not. They are Kacy Kapenash, daughter of retiring police chief Ed Kapenash (the other swan song referred to by the title), and her new friend Coco Coyle, who has given up her bartending job in the Virgin Islands to become a “personal concierge” for the other strangers-who-have-come-to-town. These are the Richardsons, Bull and Leslee, a wild and wealthy couple who have purchased a $22 million beachfront property and plan to take Nantucket by storm. As the book opens, their house has burned down during an end-of-summer party on their yacht, and Coco is missing, feared both responsible for the fire and dead. Though it’s the last weekend of his tenure, Chief Ed refuses to let the incoming chief, Zara Washington, take this one over. The investigation goes forward in parallel with a review of the summer’s intrigues, love affairs, and festivities. Whatever else you can say about Leslee Richardson, she knows how to throw a party, and Hilderbrand is just the writer to design her invitations, menus, themes, playlists, and outfits. And that hot tub!
Though Hilderbrand threatens to kill all our darlings with this last laugh, her acknowledgments say it’s just “for now.”Pub Date: June 11, 2024
ISBN: 9780316258876
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Little, Brown
Review Posted Online: March 9, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2024
PERSPECTIVES
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