Despite a handful of evocative moments, a novel that fails to cohere into a meaningful whole.
Contemporary Egyptian life glimpsed through a magical realist lens.
At the heart of Kheir’s first novel translated into English are the meanderings of young journalist Seif and his subject, Bahr, an enigmatic collector of stories who has returned from several years in Europe to the Egypt he dismisses as a “shithouse of a country” in the wake of the revolution. As the pair visit Alexandria, where they engage in a daredevil game with passing streetcars and cross the Nile River on foot, Bahr spins out tales that blend concrete detail with fanciful elements, offering bits of his melancholy perspective on life along the way. Among them are the account of his arrest and brutal treatment after a street demonstration and an oddly charming parable involving a bureaucrat named Yehyia who becomes part of a government effort to waste citizens’ time on purpose. Spirits and voices are recurring elements. There is the story of Ahmed, who is called upon to communicate with his late father to help his impoverished fellow villagers make a collective decision about whether to abandon their homes. Seif’s girlfriend, Alya, possesses an unusual talent for re-creating any imaginable sound while Salaam, a young man with a persistent stutter, can only overcome it when he sings. Some of these fragmentary, dreamlike anecdotes are loosely connected, but those links are elusive at best. Then there are promising premises—like the one involving Ashraf, the young doctor recruited as a member of a medical staff at a private clinic whose work involves caring for a single patient, a wealthy businessman who has “resolved not to die”—that are introduced, never to be revived. For a Western audience lacking Kheir’s cultural context, it’s likely that many of these episodes will prove more puzzling than resonant.
Despite a handful of evocative moments, a novel that fails to cohere into a meaningful whole.Pub Date: June 8, 2021
ISBN: 978-1-949641-16-5
Page Count: 260
Publisher: Two Lines Press
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2021
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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