by Liliana Colanzi ; translated by Chris Andrews ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 6, 2024
The “alien gaze” is a keen instrument for dissecting the human condition, and Colanzi employs it to great effect here.
Bolivian writer Colanzi’s latest collection, which earned her the Ribera del Duero International Short Story Prize.
Tinged with futuristic flourishes and set largely in the Bolivian Altiplano, these stories examine the aftermath of terrible trespasses, mostly only whispered about. The opening story, “The Cave,” emerges in fragments—a prehistoric mother, a time traveler, and a pair of star-crossed lovers are just a few who run across the title locale—showing the fleeting transience of people across the arc of time. Most notably, a pair of stories break down the mechanics and the radioactive consequences of colonialism. In the future, “Atomito” is the name of the heroic mascot of an industrial nuclear plant in South America that’s not only poisoning people but also corrupting a society looking for blame. Conversely, the sharp title story that ends the collection shows the raw consequences of a real 1987 event known as the Goiânia accident, in which hundreds were poisoned with radioactivity. Because short stories are fleeting, they’re sometimes lacking in characterization, but Colanzi is gifted at focusing on people during their most intense moments while simultaneously indulging her interest in time and its capacity to bury dark deeds. “The Debt” finds a young woman on the verge of giving birth grappling with her heritage, and “The Narrow Way” shows forbidden fruit’s effect on an isolated faith. Meanwhile, “Chaco” wanders into straight-up horror with the story of a young man possessed by the Indigenous Mataco man he murdered. The longer stories are richer but the shorter entries don’t lose a step. In fact, the most bitter story, “The Greenest Eyes,” concerns a girl who, in a Grimm-like fairy tale, longs for “the mint-colored eyes of her dreams,” only to lose paradise in the process.
The “alien gaze” is a keen instrument for dissecting the human condition, and Colanzi employs it to great effect here.Pub Date: Feb. 6, 2024
ISBN: 9780811237185
Page Count: 144
Publisher: New Directions
Review Posted Online: Nov. 18, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Dec. 15, 2023
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by Liliana Colanzi ; translated by Jessica Sequiera
by Matt Haig ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 3, 2024
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.
A British widow travels to Ibiza and learns that it’s never too late to have a happy life.
In a world that seems to be getting more unstable by the moment, Haig’s novels are a steady ship in rough seas, offering a much-needed positive message. In works like the bestselling The Midnight Library (2020), he reminds us that finding out what you truly love and where you belong in the universe are the foundations of building a better existence. His latest book continues this upbeat messaging, albeit in a somewhat repetitive and facile way. Retired British schoolteacher Grace Winters discovers that an old acquaintance has died and left her a ramshackle home in Ibiza. A widow who lost her only child years earlier, Grace is at first reluctant to visit the house, because, at 72, she more or less believes her chance for happiness is over—but when she rouses herself to travel to the island, she discovers the opposite is true. A mystery surrounds her friend’s death involving a roguish islander, his activist daughter, an internationally famous DJ, and a strange glow in the sea that acts as a powerful life force and upends Grace’s ideas of how the cosmos works. Framed as a response to a former student’s email, the narrative follows Grace’s journey from skeptic (she was a math teacher, after all) to believer in the possibility of magic as she learns to move on from the past. Her transformation is the book’s main conflict, aside from a protest against an evil developer intent on destroying Ibiza’s natural beauty. The outcome is never in doubt, and though the story often feels stretched to the limit—this novel could have easily been a novella—the author’s insistence on the power of connection to change lives comes through loud and clear.
Haig’s positive message will keep his fans happy.Pub Date: Sept. 3, 2024
ISBN: 9780593489277
Page Count: 368
Publisher: Viking
Review Posted Online: Aug. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2024
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by Matt Haig
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by Matt Haig
by Jodi Picoult ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 20, 2024
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.
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New York Times Bestseller
Who was Shakespeare?
Move over, Earl of Oxford and Francis Bacon: There’s another contender for the true author of plays attributed to the bard of Stratford—Emilia Bassano, a clever, outspoken, educated woman who takes center stage in Picoult’s spirited novel. Of Italian heritage, from a family of court musicians, Emilia was a hidden Jew and the courtesan of a much older nobleman who vetted plays to be performed for Queen Elizabeth. She was well traveled—unlike Shakespeare, she visited Italy and Denmark, where, Picoult imagines, she may have met Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—and was familiar with court intrigue and English law. “Every gap in Shakespeare’s life or knowledge that has had to be explained away by scholars, she somehow fills,” Picoult writes. Encouraged by her lover, Emilia wrote plays and poetry, but 16th-century England was not ready for a female writer. Picoult interweaves Emilia’s story with that of her descendant Melina Green, an aspiring playwright, who encounters the same sexist barriers to making herself heard that Emilia faced. In alternating chapters, Picoult follows Melina’s frustrated efforts to get a play produced—a play about Emilia, who Melina is certain sold her work to Shakespeare. Melina’s play, By Any Other Name, “wasn’t meant to be a fiction; it was meant to be the resurrection of an erasure.” Picoult creates a richly detailed portrait of daily life in Elizabethan England, from sumptuous castles to seedy hovels. Melina’s story is less vivid: Where Emilia found support from the witty Christopher Marlowe, Melina has a fashion-loving gay roommate; where Emilia faces the ravages of repeated outbreaks of plague, for Melina, Covid-19 occurs largely offstage; where Emilia has a passionate affair with the adoring Earl of Southampton, Melina’s lover is an awkward New York Times theater critic. It’s Emilia’s story, and Picoult lovingly brings her to life.
A vibrant tale of a remarkable woman.Pub Date: Aug. 20, 2024
ISBN: 9780593497210
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: June 15, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2024
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