It's not surprising, perhaps, that Updike—a dazzling critic as well as an assured, gifted story-writer—proves to be the most satisfying guest-editor of the "Best American Short Stories" series so far. True, as with other celebrity-anthologizers (Joyce Carol Oates, John Gardner, etc.), one can see an idiosyncratic sensibility at work in some of the choices here. But, in Updike's case, personal taste never leads to the inclusion of second-rate, graceless work. Jeanne Schinto's "Caddies' Day" is a fine reflection of Updike's interest in the country-club world; his passion for everyday technical detail can be seen in Stephen Kirk's "Morrison's Reactions" (dentistry) and Lawry Pei's "The Cold Room" (animal-research labs); and an Updike-ian sense of subtle family-situation comes through in mother-oriented stories by Paul Bowles and Rick DeMarinis—while Donald Justice's "The Artificial Moonlight" echoes Updike's nostalgia with its feel for bygone sociability. Even more impressive, however, are the many standout stories here which have no particular link to Updike's particular world or style: Dianne Benedict's grotesque, moving study of a sick couple's impossible leave-taking; Mary Hood's wonderfully voiced account of a depressed southern matron's last days; good-ol'-boys comedy from Madison Smartt Bell, the dense eloquence of Lee K. Abbott (like boiled-down Walker Percy), a Botswana story from Norma Rush—plus first-class work by James Salter (the knowing, sneakily graceful "Foreign Shores"), Andre Dubus (the passionately Catholic "A Father's Story"), and Mavis Gallant (the distinguished, faultless "Lena"). And, like this year's O. Henry story-collection, Updike's shrewd, professional gathering is topped by a classic that's sure to appear in anthologies for decades to come: Cynthia Ozick's scouring projection of the path of Jewish history toward Miami Beach—"Rosa.
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 1984
ISBN: 0395354137
Page Count: 330
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
Review Posted Online: Oct. 6, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 1984
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.
Life lessons.
Angie Malone, the youngest of a big, warm Italian-American family, returns to her Pacific Northwest hometown to wrestle with various midlife disappointments: her divorce, Papa’s death, a downturn in business at the family restaurant, and, above all, her childlessness. After several miscarriages, she, a successful ad exec, and husband Conlan, a reporter, befriended a pregnant young girl and planned to adopt her baby—and then the birth mother changed her mind. Angie and Conlan drifted apart and soon found they just didn’t love each other anymore. Metaphorically speaking, “her need for a child had been a high tide, an overwhelming force that drowned them. A year ago, she could have kicked to the surface but not now.” Sadder but wiser, Angie goes to work in the struggling family restaurant, bickering with Mama over updating the menu and replacing the ancient waitress. Soon, Angie befriends another young girl, Lauren Ribido, who’s eager to learn and desperately needs a job. Lauren’s family lives on the wrong side of the tracks, and her mother is a promiscuous alcoholic, but Angie knows nothing of this sad story and welcomes Lauren into the DeSaria family circle. The girl listens in, wide-eyed, as the sisters argue and make wisecracks and—gee-whiz—are actually nice to each other. Nothing at all like her relationship with her sluttish mother, who throws Lauren out when boyfriend David, en route to Stanford, gets her pregnant. Will Lauren, who’s just been accepted to USC, let Angie adopt her baby? Well, a bit of a twist at the end keeps things from becoming too predictable.
Heartfelt, yes, but pretty routine.Pub Date: July 1, 2004
ISBN: 0-345-46750-7
Page Count: 400
Publisher: Ballantine
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2004
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s...
The traumatic homecoming of a wounded warrior.
The daughter of alcoholics who left her orphaned at 17, Jolene “Jo” Zarkades found her first stable family in the military: She’s served over two decades, first in the army, later with the National Guard. A helicopter pilot stationed near Seattle, Jo copes as competently at home, raising two daughters, Betsy and Lulu, while trying to dismiss her husband Michael’s increasing emotional distance. Jo’s mettle is sorely tested when Michael informs her flatly that he no longer loves her. Four-year-old Lulu clamors for attention while preteen Betsy, mean-girl-in-training, dismisses as dweeby her former best friend, Seth, son of Jo’s confidante and fellow pilot, Tami. Amid these challenges comes the ultimate one: Jo and Tami are deployed to Iraq. Michael, with the help of his mother, has to take over the household duties, and he rapidly learns that parenting is much harder than his wife made it look. As Michael prepares to defend a PTSD-afflicted veteran charged with Murder I for killing his wife during a dissociative blackout, he begins to understand what Jolene is facing and to revisit his true feelings for her. When her helicopter is shot down under insurgent fire, Jo rescues Tami from the wreck, but a young crewman is killed. Tami remains in a coma and Jo, whose leg has been amputated, returns home to a difficult rehabilitation on several fronts. Her nightmares in which she relives the crash and other horrors she witnessed, and her pain, have turned Jo into a person her daughters now fear (which in the case of bratty Betsy may not be such a bad thing). Jo can't forgive Michael for his rash words. Worse, she is beginning to remind Michael more and more of his homicide client. Characterization can be cursory: Michael’s earlier callousness, left largely unexplained, undercuts the pathos of his later change of heart.
Less bleak than the subject matter might warrant—Hannah’s default outlook is sunny—but still, a wrenching depiction of war’s aftermath.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2012
ISBN: 978-0-312-57720-9
Page Count: 400
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: Dec. 18, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 2012
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
