A complex tale of humanity and how small interactions can change the course of a life.
The quiet story of a man who works in the staging area where people who have recently died spend time reflecting on their lives before moving on to the next stage.
Hirasaka works in a photo studio—one of many, he assumes—where his job is to await deliveries of one photo for every day of a person’s life; then, when that person appears, he helps them come to terms with the fact that they’ve just died. During their time in his studio, he treats them to whatever snacks and beverages were their favorites and gives them space to reflect on their life through photographs. Their job is to choose one picture from every year they were alive; once that task is done and Hirasaka has built a lantern to hold them all, the newly deceased will sit and watch it spin. If a photo looks faded, that means it’s a memory that has been revisited so often it has become worn with use. In those instances, Hirasaka and his guest can travel to the 24 hours of that day to retake the picture so it’s just as rich and vibrant as it was when the memory first formed. That picture is the last thing the person will see in the lantern as they head off to the next stage. The story is told in three richly drawn vignettes, each focusing on a different person being helped by Hirasaka. A bittersweet picture emerges of complicated people from different walks of life impacted by hardships who nonetheless survived—until their ultimate passing, that is, either from natural causes or at the hands of others. As kind, or mean, or nondescript, or memorable as each person is, their strongest memories—perhaps of helping others, or making a wrong choice—are held up as experiences that made them who they are in life, impacting their future selves and who they become in this world and the next.
A complex tale of humanity and how small interactions can change the course of a life.Pub Date: Sept. 17, 2024
ISBN: 9781538757437
Page Count: 224
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Review Posted Online: July 19, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2024
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
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
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