A moving work of wit and pathos.
Decades after losing a legal battle, a Vietnam War veteran recounts his side of the story in Kun’s novel.
Jimmy Nail believes that his college roommate, Peter John “P.J.” Darbin, stole and published his novel, which went on to become a seminal work that’s the darling of critics, teachers, and young adults. This first-person retelling follows Nail’s fragmented thoughts as they slide from the past to the present and back again. What begins as a darkly comedic tirade against Darbin and the legal system turns into a disjointed unraveling of his life story, which includes a traumatizing tour of duty in Vietnam, the collapse of his marriage and family, and his young adulthood in Baltimore. As Nail’s early years take center stage, the book settles into a reliable groove as the protagonist presents sections of his own short novel and intersperses them with recollections of events from his own life. At the heart of all the stories is Nail’s relationship with his neighbor Poppy Fowler—in Nail’s novel, she’s called “Poppy Fahrenberg,” and in Darbin’s, “Poppy Fahrenheit”—who likes the awkward, allergy-ridden Nail (in both novels, he’s “Allie”). As the novel rolls on, readers get the feeling that Nail’s accusation is not so fantastical. Kun, the author of Eat Wheaties! (2020), effectively manages to keep all the parts of his protagonist together, maintaining a clear throughline in spite of Nail’s inability to remember events with any sense of order. The author also plays around with tone, including mimicry of J.D. Salinger’s Holden Caulfield as well as a watered-down impression of Kurt Vonnegut’s work. The imitations are a far cry from the original, though, and Kun does best when he allows the main character to speak in his own voice. The ending will certainly leave many readers shocked, but it elevates the work and gives it unexpected heft.
A moving work of wit and pathos.Pub Date: May 5, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-95-015452-4
Page Count: 348
Publisher: The Sager Group LLC
Review Posted Online: July 31, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2021
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
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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