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THE WORLD'S THINNEST FAT MAN

A strange, witty, and not always likable protagonist headlines this assemblage of diverting tales.

Taylor’s collection of short stories revolves around a Kentucky-born man’s life of misadventures and failed romances.

Josey stops by a New Orleans voodoo shop in “The Woman Who Wouldn’t Talk, the Man Who Wouldn’t Listen.” He’s there specifically to see Madame LaBonne, hoping she can do something about his peculiar circumstances—his love, Sally, has run off with another woman. This is just one of 18 stories featuring Josey throughout his life, set in such places as West Palm Beach and his hometown of Lexington, Kentucky. Life has its ups and downs—mostly comical downs—in this collection. Josey winds up on a blind date in the story “Faithful Companion,” in which a woman named Sarah takes him to the dentist’s office next to her apartment. She promises him a surprise, but the dentist’s unforeseen arrival may upend whatever she has planned. Josey gradually develops into the “world’s thinnest fat man”; for the socially inept Josey, the appellation represents the “hot air” he tends to spew. Sometimes he’s a spectator in tales that focus on other characters, from a co-worker who tries to kick alcohol by switching to heroin to the University of Kentucky campus barber who vows to take revenge on whoever kicked a dent into his Cadillac convertible. “Meanwhile on Limestone Street: Time, Mass, and Energy Masquerade as Free Will” best exemplifies this collection’s theme and central character, with its titular street in Lexington sparking memories of ex-lovers and familiar spots, including the U.K. bookstore where Josey was a trade book buyer for five years.

Taylor dishes out much quirkiness and many laughs in this book. One story finds Josey determined to identify the “Phantom Tipper” who leaves waiters $500 bills, while in another story, on a friend’s advice, he makes a date with a woman in Florida nearly a month in advance. Not all the humor lands, however. Josey seems to revel in being “politically incorrect,” which entails intermittent uses of racial and homophobic slurs in what are meant to be humorous ways. Standouts among the stories’ supporting casts include Madame LaBonne and some would-be thieves in her shop; Darlene, an ex whose mere memory evidently flusters Josey; and an unexpectedly easygoing stranger at a Florida bar. The stories also delve into serious subject matter; “Alpha and Omega” shines a bright light on Catholicism, followed by “The Evening Star Is Not a Star,” in which Josey’s pal Jeff proposes a risky dive off a pier at high tide. Taylor’s writing is consistently clever, and he occasionally plays with narrative perspectives and timelines. Josey doesn’t always narrate the stories. In “Meanwhile,” an omniscient narrator relays bits and pieces of Josey’s life and, at one point, apparently coaxes him into action: “Hold up, Josey. Could you trot back a few steps? Pretty please?” Similarly, “Judas” opens with his first-person perspective, which almost instantly shifts to Josey imagining the point of view of young Leslie, a girl he once spent a Saturday with tracking down a local peacock.
A strange, witty, and not always likable protagonist headlines this assemblage of diverting tales.

Pub Date: Jan. 27, 2024

ISBN: 9781604893830

Page Count: 200

Publisher: N/A

Review Posted Online: March 15, 2024

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THE WEDDING PEOPLE

Uneven but fitfully amusing.

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  • New York Times Bestseller

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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THE LISTENERS

This luxurious novel is set to take the world by storm.

The true story of Axis diplomats detained in the U.S. at the start of World War II is transformed into a dazzling historical novel set at a sumptuous West Virginia hotel.

Bestselling YA fantasy author Stiefvater’s adult debut introduces a writer whose prodigious imagination and distinctive prose style have combined to create a novel that will remind readers of why they fell in love with reading in the first place. At its center is the captivating June Hudson, an erstwhile Appalachian orphan who was taken in by the wealthy Gilfoyle family, owners of the Avallon Hotel & Spa, a high-society retreat built over underground mineral springs. At his death, the patriarch bequeathed ownership to his playboy son, Edgar, but made June the general manager, as she had spent her life learning the business—and also shared with Gilfoyle Sr. a rare gift relating to the “sweetwater” springs, a fantastical element of this otherwise realistic novel. Aside from the magical waters and a few other fanciful details, Stiefvater’s fictional world is based on extensive research into high-end hotels of the period, creating a version of luxury so appealing that readers will wish they could check into the Avallon and stay on indefinitely. In fact, the novel revolves around the true meaning of luxury. To June, it has nothing to do with wealth; it is more connected to joy, and to the book’s title: “June had long ago discovered that most people were bad listeners; they thought listening was synonymous with hearing. But the spoken was only half a conversation. True needs, wants, fears, and hopes hid not in the words that were said, but in the ones that weren’t, and all these formed the core of luxury.” Also brilliantly managed is the rest of the ensemble cast: sexy FBI agents; June’s inimitable staff; the delegations of Japanese, Germans, and Italians detained at the hotel, some quite nasty, but among them a strange, special, totally silent child. And on top of all this, a delicious love story!

This luxurious novel is set to take the world by storm.

Pub Date: June 3, 2025

ISBN: 9780593655504

Page Count: 400

Publisher: Viking

Review Posted Online: April 19, 2025

Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2025

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