A thoughtful, comic look at the art-making process.
An artist attempts to monetize his work in Moore’s debut novel.
When Glenn Reynolds, an accountant, agrees to serve as an agent for his artist friend, Richard Phillips, he does so mostly to be supportive; up to this point, the eccentric and largely unknown Richard has been in no danger of selling anything. “But if it were to happen,” narrates Glenn, “he has the idea that this arrangement would avoid the disagreeable situation of customers approaching him to debate price….Richard thought talking about money was distasteful.” Then an interior decorator wants to buy one of Richard’s pieces—a drawing from his Crumpled Paper series, depicting crumpled-up balls of paper—for $1,000. Though it’s only one of a set, the strange watermark on this particular drawing makes it an object of fascination: The buyer quickly resells it to a friend of hers for twice the price. Then it resells again, and again, increasing in value each time. Meanwhile, Richard—with Glenn’s encouragement—attempts to take on increasingly ambitious projects in the hope of finally breaking through. In the great irony of art, however, Richard’s fortunes seem to plummet even as the value of his work—or one piece of it, at least—continues to skyrocket. Moore’s prose, often filtered through the wry understatements of Glenn, captures both the conceptual headiness and ridiculousness of the art world. Here Glenn tries to hustle Richard into putting the last touches on his work before a show: “He argued that adjusting the paper sculpture could theoretically take a lifetime to finish because the shape was constantly changing…I argued that while that may be true, he did not have a lifetime to finish it, and even if he did, his audience would lose interest in waiting.” The book unfolds at a leisurely pace, pausing frequently for conversations about the history of art or what food Glenn and Richard will order during their weekly lunch. More entertaining is the journey Richard’s drawing takes from collector to collector.
A thoughtful, comic look at the art-making process.Pub Date: Aug. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9798985928921
Page Count: 227
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: Nov. 9, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.
A lifetime’s worth of letters combine to portray a singular character.
Sybil Van Antwerp, a cantankerous but exceedingly well-mannered septuagenarian, is the titular correspondent in Evans’ debut novel. Sybil has retired from a beloved job as chief clerk to a judge with whom she had previously been in private legal practice. She is the divorced mother of two living adult children and one who died when he was 8. She is a reader of novels, a gardener, and a keen observer of human nature. But the most distinguishing thing about Sybil is her lifelong practice of letter writing. As advancing vision problems threaten Sybil’s carefully constructed way of life—in which letters take the place of personal contact and engagement—she must reckon with unaddressed issues from her past that threaten the house of cards (letters, really) she has built around herself. Sybil’s relationships are gradually revealed in the series of letters sent to and received from, among others, her brother, sister-in-law, children, former work associates, and, intriguingly, literary icons including Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry. Perhaps most affecting is the series of missives Sybil writes but never mails to a shadowy figure from her past. Thoughtful musings on the value and immortal quality of letters and the written word populate one of Sybil’s notes to a young correspondent while other messages are laugh-out-loud funny, tinged with her characteristic blunt tartness. Evans has created a brusque and quirky yet endearing main character with no shortage of opinions and advice for others but who fails to excavate the knotty difficulties of her own life. As Sybil grows into a delayed self-awareness, her letters serve as a chronicle of fitful growth.
An affecting portrait of a prickly woman.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9780593798430
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: Feb. 15, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2025
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.
A high school senior pursues an affair with her teacher.
Seventeen-year-old Waldo, the narrator of McCurdy’s fiction debut, lives in Anchorage, Alaska, with her mother, though she’s long been the parent in their relationship. She heats her own frozen meals and pays the bills on time while her mom chases man after man and makes well-meaning promises she never keeps. Waldo blows her Victoria’s Secret wages on online shopping sprees and binges on junk food, inevitably crashing after the fleeting highs of her indulgences. Mr. Korgy, her creative writing teacher, has “thinning hair and nose pores”; he’s 40 years old and married with a child. Nevertheless—or possibly as a result?—Waldo’s attraction to him is “instant. So sudden it’s alarming. So palpable it’s confusing.” Mr. Korgy professes to want to keep their friendship aboveboard, but after a sexual encounter at the school’s winter formal that she initiates, an affair begins. Will this reckless pursuit be the one that actually satisfies Waldo, and is she as mature as she thinks she is? Waldo is a keen observer of people and provides sharp commentary on the punishing work of female beauty. Readers of McCurdy’s bestselling memoir, I’m Glad My Mom Died (2022), will surely be curious about the tumultuous mother-daughter relationship, and it is one of the novel’s highlights, full of realistic pity and anger and need. (“I want to scream at her. I want her to hug me.”) Unfortunately, the prose is often unwieldy and sometimes downright cringeworthy: When Waldo tells Mr. Korgy she loves him, “The words hang in the air in that constipated way they do when you know that you shouldn’t have said them.” Waldo frequently lists emotions and adjectives in triplicate, and events that could be significant aren’t sufficiently explored or given enough space to breathe before the novel races on to the next thing.
A debut novel with bright spots, but unbalanced and lacking in finesse.Pub Date: Jan. 20, 2026
ISBN: 9780593723739
Page Count: 288
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: Nov. 22, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2026
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
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