Title: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans
Book Beginning/First Line Quote:
Felix, my dear brother,Thank you for the birthday card, the fountain pen, and the book, which I started the day it arrived (Thursday) and finished today.
Friday56 quote:
Dear Sir or Madam:SHAME ON YOU. I am writing in regards to the article printed on page 2 of the Life section this morning, June 10, 2013, regarding the death of a young girl in Timonium.
Summary:
Sybil Van Antwerp has throughout her life used letters to make sense of the world and her place in it. Most mornings, around half past ten, Sybil sits down to write letters—to her brother, to her best friend, to the president of the university who will not allow her to audit a class she desperately wants to take, to Joan Didion and Larry McMurtry to tell them what she thinks of their latest books, and to one person to whom she writes often yet never sends the letter.
Sybil expects her world to go on as it always has—a mother, grandmother, wife, divorcee, distinguished lawyer, she has lived a very full life. But when letters from someone in her past force her to examine one of the most painful periods of her life, she realizes that the letter she has been writing over the years needs to be read and that she cannot move forward until she finds it in her heart to offer forgiveness. (Publisher)
Review: The Correspondent is one of those books I meant to read in 2025 because everyone was raving about it here on the blogosphere. I got in line for it at the library and was over 1000 places back. When we selected it for book club, I worried I would have to purchase it to read it on time -- and I really don't like buying books I can check out from the library. So when I finally got my turn, I was ready to relish the book. I was prepared for the style -- epistolary -- with the whole story being told through letters, emails, and notes. What I wasn't prepared for was a very crabby, inflexible main character -- Sybil, the writer of the letters. You get a taste of this crabbiness in the quote for Friday56 above. I always struggle with books where I don't like the main characters, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that I struggled with this book. To be fair, Sybil does make progress and actually makes amends for her wrong-doings late in the book. So we know a good person was inside, it was just hard to see that for most of the story.
Crabby old woman aside, I did like the epistolary style, finding it very easy to read. It made the reader responsible for filling in the blanks, since often letters aren't answered or not in a timely manner. If Sybil didn't write about an event she mentioned in one letter to someone, we had no idea what happened. For example, she traveled to Texas to visit a possible love interest. But Sybil wrote no letters about her experiences there. It wasn't until many letters later that a few details of the trip dribbled out.
Based on this review, it will surprise you that I rated the book with 4 stars. Sybil made growth, the writing style was fun and easy to read. Plus I cried at the end because at the heart of the story is a dead child, deep grief, and crippling guilt. Did you read it? What did you think?
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