An expert example of a complicated form that will reward even more on subsequent readings.
A novel-in-stories that culminates during the Covid-19 pandemic follows a Big Pharma family over the course of several generations, with an emphasis on how social repression and unchecked privilege can both thwart lives.
The famously divergent paths of poets Ezra Pound and Wallace Stevens—the former dedicated to structure and surface during a lifetime of mental instability, the latter an almost prim attorney whose work explored human subjectivity—here illuminate the unspoken stories attached to the monied Dietrich clan from Philadelphia. Beginning with a love story between two sideshow performers in Chicago and ending with an individual’s recognition of loss, Hinnefeld’s linked collection reflects how little we know about our own family histories, or ourselves, particularly when faced with societal crisis. Characters meet Pound and Stevens, whose actions and relationships weave in and out of decades; for example, when one character winds up in Venice in 2019, he notes that right-wing young Italian men call themselves “CasaPound” due to their belief in the poet’s reactionary beliefs. Meanwhile, Stevens, historically also a racist, shows up as the voice of overly genteel ideas about women’s behavior and appearances, perhaps most strongly in “Winged Siren Seizing an Adolescent,” about a young wife and mother named Tess who lives in Lisbon. That story is also a great example of how the separate pieces of a novel like this exist as stand-alones while also connecting to the characters, chronology, and concerns of the whole; a Missoni dress that Tess gifts to her former nanny reminds readers of change. Speaking of change: That titular coin, at first signaled by the “dime shows” in which English-born Maude appears, has a little-known tie to Stevens—really to Mrs. Wallace Stevens—and signals the all-too-American tension between self-determination and national mythologizing that falls apart completely in the book’s second half, “Philadelphia, April 2020.” In these four stories about the global pandemic, we see how quickly anyone’s dreams and comforts can be eliminated by disaster. Somehow the coda, “Those Who Can,” provides the perfect moment of resolution.
An expert example of a complicated form that will reward even more on subsequent readings.Pub Date: Aug. 12, 2025
ISBN: 9781609531577
Page Count: 176
Publisher: Unbridled Books
Review Posted Online: May 3, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2025
BOOK REVIEW
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.
Atwood goes back to Gilead.
The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), consistently regarded as a masterpiece of 20th-century literature, has gained new attention in recent years with the success of the Hulu series as well as fresh appreciation from readers who feel like this story has new relevance in America’s current political climate. Atwood herself has spoken about how news headlines have made her dystopian fiction seem eerily plausible, and it’s not difficult to imagine her wanting to revisit Gilead as the TV show has sped past where her narrative ended. Like the novel that preceded it, this sequel is presented as found documents—first-person accounts of life inside a misogynistic theocracy from three informants. There is Agnes Jemima, a girl who rejects the marriage her family arranges for her but still has faith in God and Gilead. There’s Daisy, who learns on her 16th birthday that her whole life has been a lie. And there's Aunt Lydia, the woman responsible for turning women into Handmaids. This approach gives readers insight into different aspects of life inside and outside Gilead, but it also leads to a book that sometimes feels overstuffed. The Handmaid’s Tale combined exquisite lyricism with a powerful sense of urgency, as if a thoughtful, perceptive woman was racing against time to give witness to her experience. That narrator hinted at more than she said; Atwood seemed to trust readers to fill in the gaps. This dynamic created an atmosphere of intimacy. However curious we might be about Gilead and the resistance operating outside that country, what we learn here is that what Atwood left unsaid in the first novel generated more horror and outrage than explicit detail can. And the more we get to know Agnes, Daisy, and Aunt Lydia, the less convincing they become. It’s hard, of course, to compete with a beloved classic, so maybe the best way to read this new book is to forget about The Handmaid’s Tale and enjoy it as an artful feminist thriller.
Suspenseful, full of incident, and not obviously necessary.Pub Date: Sept. 10, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-385-54378-1
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Nan A. Talese
Review Posted Online: Sept. 3, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2019
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
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
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
SEEN & HEARD
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
