Synopsis
Deborah Eisenberg's deeply etched and mysterious stories focus on individuals grappling with dislocations, ironies, and compromises levied by ordinary reality and the vivid, troubling worlds her characters inhabit. With lyrical and gleaming prose, Eisenberg pries open daily life to explore the hidden mechanisms of human behavior.
Reviews
An impressive gathering of seven painstakingly wrought, ambitious stories by the critically acclaimed author of the collections Transactions in a Foreign Currency (1986) and Under the 82nd Airborne (1992). Eisenberg's stories typically explore unusually complex relationships among strongly realized characters who are often both inexorably drawn to--and hopelessly wrong for--one another. She has a flair for developing an initially simple story in unexpected directions, and something of (her exemplar?) Katherine Anne Porter's ability to bring a novel-like depth to the confines of her stories. One or two gathered here misfire--notably ``Rosie Gets a Soul,'' a sprawling tale about a screwed-up female painter's experiences with peers, lovers, art, and drugs: Eisenberg's heart doesn't seem to be in it. But there are several stunners, including the title story's ``imaginary conversation,'' which its unfulfilled middle-aged protagonist holds with the charismatic older man who had tutored her and, it appears, never noticed her; and ``The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor,'' which traces with both irony and empathy its boarding-school protagonist's initiation into the facts of mortality, as well as of adult hypocrisy and folly. Another exploration of childhood, ``Mermaids,'' limns the fractious and contentious nature of an outwardly contented family through the eyes of its young daughter's schoolmate, who accompanies them on an eye-opening trip to New York City. And in the best of several stories set in, and redolent of, Mexico, the superb ``Someone to Talk To,'' Eisenberg reveals the rude political awakening of a pampered concert pianist in a series of ingeniously unfolding levels of emotion and meaning. Exceptional work from one of the contemporary masters. -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
Eisenberg's short stories are fresh and sure. Her earlier stories were recently collected in The Stories (So Far) of Deborah Eisenberg (1997), and now a spectacular set of diverse new works is presented here, a rapid-fire release guaranteed to increase her readership. Eisenberg's speciality is depicting the carnival atmosphere of a mind coming slowly and reluctantly to terms with crisis. The very air turns visible and fragmented in "The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor" when Francie, a rebellious student at an uptight boarding school, learns that her mother has died. In "Across the Lake," a young tourist in a war-torn Latin American country senses danger in everything, from a drop of water to the glint in a child's eyes. Whatever the setting, Eisenberg perfectly and instructively captures the baffling simultaneity of each moment--the indifference of sunlight, the presentiment of a misheard word--and our minds' stubborn preoccupation with the spin and crash of thoughts. Donna Seaman
This book of seven short stories follows closely the release earlier this year of Eisenberg's The Stories (So Far) of Deborah Eisenberg (LJ 1/97). Eisenberg is an influential presence in contemporary short fiction with her strong portrayals of characters dealing with the confusion of modern life. These newest stories fall into two patterns: individuals caught in foreign cultures or young women trying to make sense of an amoral adult world. The young female characters are by far the most finely wrought, with added touches of humor and determination. "The Girl Who Left Her Sock on the Floor," which originally appeared in The New Yorker, is a real gem about a misfit at a girls' boarding school who suddenly finds herself alone in the world. In "Rosie Gets a Soul," a young woman gets herself off heroin and starts a new life. There's no smug self-congratulation, though; the story is a study of the reemergence from the blur to what?for some people?is the normal world. Highly recommended.?Reba Leiding, Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst., Troy, N.Y.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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