A jovial but tepid work of short fiction.
A collection of comical, lighthearted stories tied by recurrent references to all things dental.
Shoemaker assembles 28 short stories—most of them only a few pages long—the number corresponding to the number of teeth in his mouth. He’s missing his 4 wisdom teeth, a sure sign, he jests, that “this is a book without any wisdom.” This one-liner anticipates the book’s general thrust—lots of jocularity and an obsession with teeth. Sometimes matters dental form the backbone of a story—in “correspondentures,” Harry anxiously writes Edward, a vanished paramour, enclosing his own extracted teeth as proof of devotion. In his zeal, Harry ends up toothless, a terrible bind for which he was unprepared: “And now, because of you, I am reduced to a diet of corn and beans. Milk. Butter. Cheese. I do happen to adore cheese. Such a novelty, do you agree! Don’t answer!” In other stories, teeth figure only peripherally; e.g., the protagonist’s parents often get their dentures confused in “bottleship.” While all the stories are written in a farcical spirit, brimming with punchlines, the collection occasionally takes a more serious turn. In “heteroholics: a memoir,” the narrator intends to donate his kidney to the mother of his best friend from childhood, but he’s reminded that he is considered a high-risk donor as a gay man—that his “kidney is gay.” This is the best story in the collection—not only genuinely funny, but also insightful, exposing the paradoxically polite ways in which prejudice can rear its ugly head. Most of the stories have a precious quality to them, however, and do not command the reader’s full attention. This book of short stories asks very little of the reader—one can distractedly read it in a single sitting—but it doesn’t promise much either.
A jovial but tepid work of short fiction.Pub Date: May 1, 2023
ISBN: 9798358336957
Page Count: 167
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Feb. 16, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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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