Measured, witty, captivating tales starring a series of resilient, likable female characters.
A short-story collection plumbs the depths of girlhood, life, and suburban survival.
Hosey channels the lives of young women across the expanse of 10 tales that are alternatingly titillating, shocking, harrowing, poignant, and compelling. In the opener, “Christine,” two suburban adolescent girls befriend and then start parenting a toddler they meet at a playground, which begins as a fun project but becomes too serious when they escalate their efforts to care for the child on their own. The title story is striking and clever as it depicts two girls, both in love with the same abusive, cheating video store clerk, who agree to participate in the man’s robbery scheme but wind up bonding in other ways instead. Elsewhere, a nun’s fall from grace in “Blessed Virgin” comes as a blessing when she realizes she can finally be the queer woman she feels she is inside without consequences or judgment. Plenty of phallic humor permeates the comical and family-centric “Not For Everyone,” one of the volume’s longest tales. Hosey has a firm grasp of the minor details that give readers a fully illuminated image of the characters she depicts and the nostalgic era, mostly the 1980s and ’90s, in which they live. Preteen girls, “both summer-brown overlaid with pink sunburn on their shoulders and cheeks,” chew grape gum and gossip about the TV series Dynasty; others use pay phones, star-69 one another, and obsess over the musician Dave Matthews. A calm, comforting man becomes the equivalent of “human Xanax” for a needy woman in one story. The author’s knack for characterization is keenly realized throughout these tales with remarkably descriptive flair. The Walden Pond tour guide in “Land Mammals,” about a downtrodden college teacher who is enlivened by a Thoreau impersonator, is described as a “sickly-looking older woman who probably believes that old lie about how it is impossible to be too thin.” There’s also a refreshing range of locales, from the wintry setting of suburban Wisconsin to the leafy, wooded historical community of Concord, Massachusetts. Every story in Hosey’s distinguished, engrossing collection is memorable, suffused with meaning and emotion, with characters exhibiting the grace and wisdom of age or the testiness of youth. This is splendidly entertaining reading, particularly for fans of women’s fiction.
Measured, witty, captivating tales starring a series of resilient, likable female characters.Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2024
ISBN: 9783988320407
Page Count: 290
Publisher: Vine Leaves Press
Review Posted Online: Dec. 12, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A sweet bedtime story.
A boy and his stuffed bear head into the woods.
Having captured readers’ attention with Born a Crime (2016), his bestselling memoir of growing up in South Africa, comedian and television host Noah has written a parable about decision-making. As he puts it in a brief prologue, “It’s about disagreements and difference—but it’s also about how we bridge those gaps and find what matters most, whether we’re parents or kids, neighbors, gnomes, or political adversaries. It’s a picture book, but it’s not a children’s book. Rather, it is a book for kids to share with parents and for parents to share with kids.” With plentiful illustrations by Hahn and in language aimed at young listeners, it tells the story of a small boy so impatient to start his Saturday adventures that he rebels against the rules of his household and heads out without brushing his teeth or making his bed, despite the reminders of his stuffed bear, Walter. “We can’t just run away,” protests the bear. “Your mother will miss you. And where will we sleep? And who will make us waffles?” “We’ll build our own house,” the boy responds. “And we’ll grow our own waffles!” From there, the pair go on their walkabout, encountering a garden gnome, a pair of snails, and a gang of animated coins who have lessons to offer about making choices. Though the author suggests in the introduction that adult readers might enjoy the book on their own, those looking for a follow-up to the memoir or a foray into adult fiction should be warned that this is not that book.
A sweet bedtime story.Pub Date: Oct. 8, 2024
ISBN: 9780593729960
Page Count: 128
Publisher: One World/Random House
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2024
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
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