A manically satirical but ultimately drab novel.
The lives of an eclectic cast of characters collide in Missouri Towers, a dilapidated residential building in St. Louis, in Aylott’s farcical novel.
Mike Love is a struggling real estate agent who was once a “a doppelgänger for Bruce Springsteen in his mid-eighties prime.” He speaks in cringeworthy cliches (“Mike Love is the name, real estate is the game!”), a linguistic tendency unfortunately typical of the author’s stale prose. Mike procrastinates marrying his girlfriend, Gloria McKendrick, a former trapeze artist with Ringling Brothers who now teaches at a circus school. His hesitation is exacerbated by the sudden appearance of his old high-school flame, Lizzy Winslow, “a wild, manic pixie dream girl who would never be tamed.” Both Mike and Gloria live in Missouri Towers—the residents cheekily call it “Misery Towers”—a tumbledown structure that was once a coveted address. The building serves as the stage of much of this comedic novel’s action, and as the home for most of its cast, including Mike’s boss, Daris Ballic, a Bosnian immigrant who skyrocketed to entrepreneurial success by obsessively imitating Winston Churchill. The best aspect of the book is its depiction of the building itself as a microcosm of urban decadence and blight, a symbol of St. Louis as a “fatalistic northern city in perpetual decline, lodged in a southern-looking state cursed with never-ending racial problems.” Unfortunately, the prose reads like an exasperatingly long standup routine, with one corny quip succeeding the next (a real-estate agent rival of Mike’s, Julie Titsworth, doubles as a national spokeswoman for early-onset menopause). A typical example of Aylott’s tiresome brew of comedic platitude and leaden writing reads, “America is a never-ending land of opportunity. Where else could a tacky real estate tycoon become a TV star and then leader of the free world? Where else could a C-list celebrity like Kim Kardashian, with a large ass and questionable talents, make herself into a household name, and a billionaire.” The sheer quantity of jokes crammed into the narrative is much more impressive than their quality.
A manically satirical but ultimately drab novel.Pub Date: June 14, 2024
ISBN: 9798987681213
Page Count: 418
Publisher: Beautiful Arch
Review Posted Online: Jan. 3, 2024
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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