Book Review: Absence by Issa Quincy

Reviewed by Amy Brozio-Andrews

A tender and thoughtful novel that illuminates the power of memory and how it shapes us

No matter how old we get, the pull of nostalgia is strong, especially when it draws us closer to childhood comfort. Issa Quincy’s Absence highlights the power of memory in an unexpected coming of age story.

It begins for our narrator with a formative memory of his mother sitting on the edge of his childhood bed and reading a poem to him, and then the story unspools across decades. The poem is a talisman that reappears throughout his life in unexpected ways. His memory of his mother remains a fragile emotional keepsake that drives this kaleidoscopic exploration of memory, truth, and love.

At first glance, the people our narrator knows and whose stories he hears appear unrelated. These people include a broad range of ages and backgrounds. Mr. Rothlan is haunted by a childhood tragedy. Patricia is a Harlem transplant in Boston, driving a bus. Sulli struggles with the aftermath of a childhood illness and the echoes of family strife. Others reckon with the decisions that are out of their control. But they all reveal how the parts of our lives unseen by others—like secret heartbreaks, profound regrets, and unconditional love—become the only things that we can see.

These characters’ hopes, dreams, successes, and failures prick at the narrator’s awareness. Every one of them has something to say about the choices we make and how our actions ripple across time. And when it all comes full circle, our narrator is ready.

At times, the book’s structure creates distance. The fact that the narrator doesn’t have a name suggests he’s a stand-in for “every person.” But it also makes it harder to connect with him. On the flip side, this unspoken boundary pushes the other characters to the forefront. We know their names, hear their stories, and empathize with their struggles. We, too, puzzle through the connections the narrator is making and find those same little a-ha moments of clarity and meaning.

Quincy’s delicate brutality in depicting war, illness, and family strife is moving. We feel the characters’ distress. The only misstep is the narrator’s sympathetic treatment of the adult caught in a relationship with a teenager, which is jarring in 2025.

Still, there’s a sameness to the cadence of the characters’ storytelling that blurs it all. And while mentions of historical figures and events place these vignettes firmly in time, the book has a disorienting feeling, like it’s all happening apart from time.

Quincy works his lyrical prose like a sculptor, bringing forth his vision slowly but confidently. Secondary characters gently unfold stories of loss and its aftermath with honesty. Quincy’s ability to bring together far-flung locations and disparate experiences delivers a strong emotional punch. He excels in highlighting that no matter how different our lives may look on the surface, we all carry similar longings.

This isn’t a book to read in one sitting. This book asks for your patience and rewards it with a strong emotional payoff. For fans of literary fiction eager for introspection and meaning, Quincy delivers elegant and exquisitely controlled prose. Absence is a book worth savoring.

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