Dark, sometimes despairing tales that inspire and impress.
Tuttle’s debut short story collection finds its characters sifting through loneliness and dissociation in their somber lives.
The book opens with “I Saw Him Sleeping,” in which the events of young Marcella’s troubled childhood land her in a Colorado detention center; later, she’s sent to a residential treatment center, which feels like anything but a real home. Marcella staves off boredom and loneliness by forging a relationship with fellow teen Carlos; she’s separated from her mother and beloved brother. The characters throughout the collection’s seven stories often feel isolated, even in a family household. The mother in “112 Months,” for example, continues to feel a profound separation from her infant son, who died nearly a decade ago. A few of these stories boast a memorable, unnerving David Lynch–ian vibe involving a disconnect from reality. There’s an elementary school janitor in “Horizontal Hold” whose repeated viewings of an old TV murder mystery parallel the increasingly violent real life he observes around him; in “Stray Socks,”there’s a wife and mother of three who seems to struggle with distinguishing dreams from memories. Tuttle’s masterful dialogue surprises time and again, as seemingly trivial conversations deliver profundity: In the case of “Stranger,” a man’s description of another character is closer to the truth than he thinks: “Most of the time, you aren’t all here, and when you’re here, it’s as if you’re about to leave.” A notable theme of motherhood crops up throughout; “112 Months” may be the book’s most heartfelt offering, but other characters also experience intense emotions tied to pregnancy and experience self-isolation. The sole downside to this superlative book is that it’s too brief, but these stories are likely to hold up to multiple readings.
Dark, sometimes despairing tales that inspire and impress.Pub Date: May 20, 2023
ISBN: 9781958015025
Page Count: 137
Publisher: Contingency Street Press
Review Posted Online: April 28, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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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