Subdued but often incisive portrayals of everyday lives.
Bloom presents collection of short stories in which characters oscillate between loneliness and detachment.
In “A Baja Summer,” the opening and longest tale, journalistJerry Briggs has an assignment on the eponymous peninsula. As he awaits the political event he’s there to cover, he revels in excess—drinking heavily, chain-smoking cigarettes, and ingesting peyote. For company, he has Mickey Rollins, a cage fighter he’s known since childhood, and Brent Baxter, a college pal who’s in Baja for a cousin’s wedding. Jerry and Brent later go on a double date with locals Maria and Layla.Brent becomes somewhat fixated on Maria, but that may not stop Jerry from spending some time alone with her. When the assignment is done, will Jerry stick around, or will he be ready to pack his bags? The remaining eight stories are notably shorter. “Knock Yourself Out” has a similar setup to “Baja”: Burr and Leek are friends vying for the attention of Masha at a ballroom dance. The boys have planned an impromptu outing in the snowy wilderness, but their friendship could wither if Masha chooses one of them to join her on the ballroom floor. Several characters seem on the verge of isolation, even when surrounded by others. In “A Stormy Backdrop,” for instance, young Van’s pals cheer him on as he climbs a tree that’s close to keeling over. An approaching storm practically guarantees this tree will fall, and chances are that the lad will blame the people egging him on.
“A Baja Summer,” which effectively depicts a man who lives as if happiness is a distant memory, is the clear highlight of this collection. Some of the accompanying tales come across as mere snippets of longer, better-developed narratives. That’s certainly the case with “A Familiar Accord,” in which Richard Grant heads to a place called Santoro’s, where he’s part of a scheme to take care of a “racket” that’s “overextended.” It’s a moody, noirish piece that unsatisfyingly teases many promising elements, such as driver Mel and his mysterious “passenger,” who drop Richard off at Santoro’s. However, “City Country,” a snapshot of a chaotic city jam-packed with buildings and people, offers a showcase for the author’s lyrical prose: “The sidewalks blocked by legions of wide-hipped stroller pushers, bikers massaging the pavement with tread, smokers shirking their rebellion for all to whale, and when you catch a flurry of young, grit-nub children, you realize this place is merciless to a degree of comedy.” Its cast brims with intriguing characters, from fellow hunters out on a hunt to a woman who grows fond of a suitor whom she sees as a “glorified butler.” The book closes with another fine tale, “In a Line to Get Out,” which centers on Henry Blackman, who’s waiting at a train station for someone’s late arrival. He’s just one person in a crowd of people with their own problems, including an angry man demanding to speak with a manager and the lady impatiently waiting in line in front of him.
Subdued but often incisive portrayals of everyday lives.Pub Date: Nov. 25, 2024
ISBN: 9781944527020
Page Count: 72
Publisher: Natural Press
Review Posted Online: June 10, 2025
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.
An artwork’s value grows if you understand the stories of the people who inspired it.
Never in her wildest dreams would foster kid Louisa dream of meeting C. Jat, the famous painter of The One of the Sea, which depicts a group of young teens on a pier on a hot summer’s day. But in Backman’s latest, that’s just what happens—an unexpected (but not unbelievable) set of circumstances causes their paths to collide right before the dying 39-year-old artist’s departure from the world. One of his final acts is to bequeath that painting to Louisa, who has endured a string of violent foster homes since her mother abandoned her as a child. Selling the painting will change her life—but can she do it? Before deciding, she accompanies Ted, one of the artist’s close friends and one of the young teens captured in that celebrated painting, on a train journey to take the artist’s ashes to his hometown. She wants to know all about the painting, which launched Jat’s career at age 14, and the circle of beloved friends who inspired it. The bestselling author of A Man Called Ove (2014) and other novels, Backman gives us a heartwarming story about how these friends, set adrift by the violence and unhappiness of their homes, found each other and created a new definition of family. “You think you’re alone,” one character explains, “but there are others like you, people who stand in front of white walls and blank paper and only see magical things. One day one of them will recognize you and call out: ‘You’re one of us!’” As Ted tells stories about his friends—how Jat doubted his talents but found a champion in fiery Joar, who took on every bully to defend him; how Ali brought an excitement to their circle that was “like a blinding light, like a heart attack”—Louisa recognizes herself as a kindred soul and feels a calling to realize her own artistic gifts. What she decides to do with the painting is part of a caper worthy of the stories that Ted tells her. The novel is humorous, poignant, and always life-affirming, even when describing the bleakness of the teens’ early lives. “Art is a fragile magic, just like love,” as someone tells Louisa, “and that’s humanity’s only defense against death.”
A tender and moving portrait about the transcendent power of art and friendship.Pub Date: May 6, 2025
ISBN: 9781982112820
Page Count: 448
Publisher: Atria
Review Posted Online: July 4, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
Uneven but fitfully amusing.
Betrayed by her husband, a severely depressed young woman gets drawn into the over-the-top festivities at a lavish wedding.
Phoebe Stone, who teaches English literature at a St. Louis college, is plotting her own demise. Her husband, Matt, has left her for another woman, and Phoebe is taking it hard. Indeed, she's determined just where and how she will end it all: at an oceanfront hotel in Newport, where she will lie on a king-sized canopy bed and take a bottle of her cat’s painkillers. At the hotel, Phoebe meets bride-to-be Lila, a headstrong rich girl presiding over her own extravagant six-day wedding celebration. Lila thought she had booked every room in the hotel, and learning of Phoebe's suicidal intentions, she forbids this stray guest from disrupting the nuptials: “No. You definitely can’t kill yourself. This is my wedding week.” After the punchy opening, a grim flashback to the meltdown of Phoebe's marriage temporarily darkens the mood, but things pick up when spoiled Lila interrupts Phoebe's preparations and sweeps her up in the wedding juggernaut. The slide from earnest drama to broad farce is somewhat jarring, but from this point on, Espach crafts an enjoyable—if overstuffed—comedy of manners. When the original maid of honor drops out, Phoebe is persuaded, against her better judgment, to take her place. There’s some fun to be had here: The wedding party—including groom-to-be Gary, a widower, and his 11-year-old daughter—takes surfing lessons; the women in the group have a session with a Sex Woman. But it all goes on too long, and the humor can seem forced, reaching a low point when someone has sex with the vintage wedding car (you don’t want to know the details). Later, when two characters have a meet-cute in a hot tub, readers will guess exactly how the marriage plot resolves.
Uneven but fitfully amusing.Pub Date: July 30, 2024
ISBN: 9781250899576
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Henry Holt
Review Posted Online: Sept. 13, 2024
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SEEN & HEARD
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