Harrowing existential horror that lingers like a nightmare.
A couple’s foray into homeownership takes a turn for the terrifying.
In Moreno’s bone-chilling debut, Vera and Thiago Alvarez assume there are rational explanations for the phenomena plaguing their recently purchased Chicago condominium. That said, the exterminator can’t find any vermin to account for the scratching in the walls, and the HVAC technician absolves their air conditioner of blame for the cold spots and nocturnal clangs. When the pair’s new Itza smart speaker starts answering unasked questions and placing unsolicited orders for items such as industrial-strength lye and a book on communicating with the dead, they deem it defective; however, a replacement device proves no less willful. The Alvarezes attempt to track down their unit’s former occupant in hopes that she can shed some light, but before they can connect with the woman, Vera has a freak accident and dies, sparking a media storm. Unable to cope with his emotions, the attention, or the condo’s escalating weirdness, Thiago crushes the Itza with his truck and uses Vera’s life insurance to buy a fully furnished cabin near Estes Park, Colorado. His grief chases him west, though, along with a manipulative, malevolent entity determined to gain entrance to this world. Thiago’s intimate first-person narration reads like a letter written in hindsight, addressed to a now-dead Vera, and suffused with pain and regret. Moreno makes clever use of structure to maximize dread, opening with Vera’s funeral and then doubling back, while references to famous horror novels and films trick readers into thinking they’re following a familiar path before the tragic plot veers wildly off-map.
Harrowing existential horror that lingers like a nightmare.Pub Date: Oct. 12, 2021
ISBN: 978-0-374-53923-8
Page Count: 272
Publisher: MCD/Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Review Posted Online: July 27, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2021
A moving, hilarious reminder that parenthood, just like life, means constant change.
During an annual beach vacation, a mother confronts her past and learns to move forward.
Her family’s annual trip to Cape Cod is always the highlight of Rocky’s year—even more so now that her children are grown and she cherishes what little time she gets with them. Rocky is deep in the throes of menopause, picking fights with her loving husband and occasionally throwing off her clothes during a hot flash, much to the chagrin of her family. She’s also dealing with her parents, who are crammed into the same small summer house (with one toilet that only occasionally spews sewage everywhere) and who are aging at an alarmingly rapid rate. Rocky’s life is full of change, from her body to her identity—she frequently flashes back to the vacations of years past, when her children were tiny. Although she’s grateful for the family she has, she mourns what she’s lost. Newman (author of the equally wonderful We All Want Impossible Things, 2022) imbues Rocky’s internal struggles with importance and gravity, all while showcasing her very funny observations about life and parenting. She examines motherhood with a raw honesty that few others manage—she remembers the hard parts, the depths of despair, panic, and anxiety that can happen with young children, and she also recounts the joy in a way that never feels saccharine. She has a gift for exploring the real, messy contradictions in human emotions. As Rocky puts it, “This may be the only reason we were put on this earth. To say to each other, I know how you feel.”
A moving, hilarious reminder that parenthood, just like life, means constant change.Pub Date: June 18, 2024
ISBN: 9780063345164
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: March 23, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 15, 2024
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
PERSPECTIVES
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.
A falsely accused Black man goes into hiding in this masterful novella by Wright (1908-1960), finally published in full.
Written in 1941 and '42, between Wright’s classics Native Son and Black Boy, this short novel concerns Fred Daniels, a modest laborer who’s arrested by police officers and bullied into signing a false confession that he killed the residents of a house near where he was working. In a brief unsupervised moment, he escapes through a manhole and goes into hiding in a sewer. A series of allegorical, surrealistic set pieces ensues as Fred explores the nether reaches of a church, a real estate firm, and a jewelry store. Each stop is an opportunity for Wright to explore themes of hope, greed, and exploitation; the real estate firm, Wright notes, “collected hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent from poor colored folks.” But Fred’s deepening existential crisis and growing distance from society keep the scenes from feeling like potted commentaries. As he wallpapers his underground warren with cash, mocking and invalidating the currency, he registers a surrealistic but engrossing protest against divisive social norms. The novel, rejected by Wright’s publisher, has only appeared as a substantially truncated short story until now, without the opening setup and with a different ending. Wright's take on racial injustice seems to have unsettled his publisher: A note reveals that an editor found reading about Fred’s treatment by the police “unbearable.” That may explain why Wright, in an essay included here, says its focus on race is “rather muted,” emphasizing broader existential themes. Regardless, as an afterword by Wright’s grandson Malcolm attests, the story now serves as an allegory both of Wright (he moved to France, an “exile beyond the reach of Jim Crow and American bigotry”) and American life. Today, it resonates deeply as a story about race and the struggle to envision a different, better world.
A welcome literary resurrection that deserves a place alongside Wright’s best-known work.Pub Date: April 20, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-59853-676-8
Page Count: 240
Publisher: Library of America
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
BOOK TO SCREEN
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