How I Learned (Paperback)

Paperback. The acclaimed poets first collection of short stories illuminates worlds of the unfortunate and lives of the marginalized.These fluid stories resonate with both internal and external dialogues in a variety of voices, most of them on the edge in one way or another. A group of prisoners sits around a table making valentines; two friends and former neighbors reunite and realize that there is no way to make up for time lost; a 70-year-old woman flies to Las Vegas hoping to see Frank Sinatra; the impoverished housekeeper to a contessa whose villa is falling apart recounts her bosss attempts to make money. Although the subjects come from varied ethnic backgrounds, countries and walks of life, the individual tales segue smoothly from one to the next. The story of a cheating high school student who finds a letter his teacher wrote to a child she gave up for adoption many years before is followed by one about a teenager who has sex with a boy and all his friends, which in turn leads into the tale of an illiterate fourth-grade girl. Fryms (By Ear) background as a poet has trained her well in the use of strong imagery. Publishers Weekly Fiction. "These are pure stories. They are told because they have to be told, because the people in them exist in an un-narrated, anguished time that uses them without seeming purpose. Gloria Frym gives these lives back their stories. I felt - while overhearing these - the pleasure of being an intruder, a spy, a voyeur" -Andrei Codrescu. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.…