A captivating, complicated take on coming-of-age.
This tender debut novel follows Gregorio Pasos, a 21-year-old Colombian American who’s prone to injury.
The novel opens just after his third hospitalizing soccer injury, which forces him to spend a month in recovery. During that time, he sleeps, dreams, and narrates a life of many different injuries as an immigrant. As the child of divorced parents and of both Colombia and the United States, Gregorio grew up with a constant feeling of being divided. Rather than situate Gregorio’s coming-of-age on either continent, the novel draws parallels between Colombia's violent history and the United States under Trump’s presidency. These parallels are written in impactful prose that feels weighted with grief. Early on, Gregorio laments “how easy it was to die in Colombia and how little one could do about it. On the other hand, how strange it was to live in a town where people’s biggest threats seemed to be themselves.” In spite of its constant sense of dread, of waiting for another bomb or gun to go off, the novel is surprisingly tender and warm. Through each of his injuries, Gregorio develops close relationships with his uncle Nico, who has cancer; Magdalena, his landlady, who dies shortly after the 2016 election, and others. Gregorio is haunted by the past, but the author shows that ghosts aren’t scary when a person is enmeshed in their community. Emboldened by the lessons of the past and present, Gregorio develops a more confident voice. Written in a series of short, vivid chapters, this is an accessible and smooth read; the first-person voice hardly changes tone and style, even in chapters narrated by characters other than Gregorio. Restrepo Montoya walks a fine line between scathing and maudlin and invites readers to listen in on the conversations that happen between families in times of conflict.
A captivating, complicated take on coming-of-age.Pub Date: July 11, 2023
ISBN: 9781953387332
Page Count: 170
Publisher: Two Dollar Radio
Review Posted Online: June 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2023
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.
A French art historian’s English-language fiction debut combines the story of a loving relationship between a grandfather and granddaughter with an enlightening discussion of art.
One day, when 10-year-old Mona removes the necklace given to her by her now-dead grandmother, she experiences a frightening, hour-long bout of blindness. Her parents take her to the doctor, who gives her a variety of tests and also advises that she see a psychiatrist. Her grandfather Henry tells her parents that he will take care of that assignment, but instead, he takes Mona on weekly visits to either the Louvre, the Musée d’Orsay, or the Centre Pompidou, where each week they study a single work of art, gazing at it deeply and then discussing its impact and history and the biography of its maker. For the reader’s benefit, Schlesser also describes each of the works in scrupulous detail. As the year goes on, Mona faces the usual challenges of elementary school life and the experiences of being an only child, and slowly begins to understand the causes of her temporary blindness. Primarily an amble through a few dozen of Schlesser’s favorite works of art—some well known and others less so, from Botticelli and da Vinci through Basquiat and Bourgeois—the novel would probably benefit from being read at a leisurely pace. While the dialogue between Henry and the preternaturally patient and precocious Mona sometimes strains credulity, readers who don’t have easy access to the museums of Paris may enjoy this vicarious trip in the company of a guide who focuses equally on that which can be seen and the context that can’t be. Come for the novel, stay for the introductory art history course.
A pleasant if not entirely convincing tribute to the power of art.Pub Date: Aug. 26, 2025
ISBN: 9798889661115
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Europa Editions
Review Posted Online: June 7, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
SEEN & HEARD
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