A collection that you'll want to keep on your bedside table by one of America’s most original short story writers.
Davis, whose prodigious output includes translations, essays, and stories, is back with an overflowing treasure chest of jewel-like stories.
Davis’ stories, some no longer than a sentence, others arranged on the page like poems, eschew the conventions of fiction and instead focus on small, significant moments. “I saw something white moving through the air by the side of the house,” the narrator in “A Matter of Perspective” observes. “I thought it was a large white butterfly fluttering by— / a rare white butterfly! / But it was only a special delivery letter, / Coming past the window in the postman’s hand.” This attention to perspective, to the significance of details as well as the possibility of misperception and miscommunication, animates Davis’ work. In some cases, it’s linguistic, as in “Caramel Drizzle,” a playful piece about the difference between adding “caramel syrup” or “caramel drizzle” to a coffee drink, or “Letter to the Father,” in which a poet whose father is dead wonders, “Do I have a father, or did I have a father?” How much can depend on our perceptions? these stories relentlessly ask. In “Incident on the Train,” a woman asks a young couple to watch her belongings only to begin to worry that they aren’t responsible because “the guy’s eyes are bloodshot, and the girl has a lot of tattoos.” As in many of Davis’ stories, the narrator’s second-guessing leads not to clarity but only more confusion and chaos. Though these stories pose serious questions, their tone is always playful, tender, and irreverent. A series of pieces titled “Claim to Fame” poke gentle fun at the practice of claiming fame by association: “In Detroit, standing in a line, I met a woman who turned out to be the daughter of Samuel Beckett’s publisher Barney Rossett.” And in “Pardon the Intrusion,” Davis creates a community board of things that people are giving away or seeking. Some of the requests are ordinary (“Would anyone like this toddler bed?”) and others slightly wacky (“Pardon the intrusion, but I and the Professor have a surfeit of borage. Any suggestions?”), but together they tell a story about how our idiosyncrasies bring us together.
A collection that you'll want to keep on your bedside table by one of America’s most original short story writers.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2023
ISBN: 9798987717103
Page Count: 304
Publisher: Bookshop Editions
Review Posted Online: June 21, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2023
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.
A love story about a life of second chances.
In Nassau, in the Bahamas, casino detective Vincent LaPorta grills Alfie Logan, who’d come up a winner three times in a row at the roulette table and walked away with $2 million. “How did you do it?” asks the detective. Alfie calmly denies cheating. You wired all the money to a Gianna Rule, LaPorta says. Why? To explain, Alfie produces a composition book with the words “For the Boss, to Be Read Upon My Death” written on the cover. Read this for answers, Alfie suggests, calling it a love story. His mother had passed along to him a strange trait: He can say “Twice!” and go back to a specific time and place to have a do-over. But it only works once for any particular moment, and then he must live with the new consequences. He can only do this for himself and can’t prevent anyone from dying. Alfie regularly uses his power—failing to impress a girl the first time, he finds out more about her, goes back in time, and presto! She likes him. The premise is of course not credible—LaPorta doesn’t buy it either—but it’s intriguing. Most people would probably love to go back and unsay something. The story’s focus is on Alfie’s love for Gianna and whether it’s requited, unrequited, or both. In any case, he’s obsessed with her. He’s a good man, though, an intelligent person with ordinary human failings and a solid moral compass. Albom writes in a warm, easy style that transports the reader to a world of second chances and what-ifs, where spirituality lies close to the surface but never intrudes on the story. Though a cynic will call it sappy, anyone who is sick to their core from the daily news will enjoy this escape from reality.
Have tissues ready as you read this. A small package will do.Pub Date: Oct. 7, 2025
ISBN: 9780062406682
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: July 18, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.
After being released from prison, a young woman tries to reconnect with her 5-year-old daughter despite having killed the girl’s father.
Kenna didn’t even know she was pregnant until after she was sent to prison for murdering her boyfriend, Scotty. When her baby girl, Diem, was born, she was forced to give custody to Scotty’s parents. Now that she’s been released, Kenna is intent on getting to know her daughter, but Scotty’s parents won’t give her a chance to tell them what really happened the night their son died. Instead, they file a restraining order preventing Kenna from so much as introducing herself to Diem. Handsome, self-assured Ledger, who was Scotty’s best friend, is another key adult in Diem’s life. He’s helping her grandparents raise her, and he too blames Kenna for Scotty’s death. Even so, there’s something about her that haunts him. Kenna feels the pull, too, and seems to be seeking Ledger out despite his judgmental behavior. As Ledger gets to know Kenna and acknowledges his attraction to her, he begins to wonder if maybe he and Scotty’s parents have judged her unfairly. Even so, Ledger is afraid that if he surrenders to his feelings, Scotty’s parents will kick him out of Diem’s life. As Kenna and Ledger continue to mourn for Scotty, they also grieve the future they cannot have with each other. Told alternatively from Kenna’s and Ledger’s perspectives, the story explores the myriad ways in which snap judgments based on partial information can derail people’s lives. Built on a foundation of death and grief, this story has an undercurrent of sadness. As usual, however, the author has created compelling characters who are magnetic and sympathetic enough to pull readers in. In addition to grief, the novel also deftly explores complex issues such as guilt, self-doubt, redemption, and forgiveness.
With captivating dialogue, angst-y characters, and a couple of steamy sex scenes, Hoover has done it again.Pub Date: Jan. 18, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-5420-2560-7
Page Count: 335
Publisher: Montlake Romance
Review Posted Online: Oct. 12, 2021
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Nov. 1, 2021
SEEN & HEARD
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
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