From Publishers Weekly
The distinctive, idiosyncratic voices of antiheroes floundering in a world dissolving around them distinguish the 11 tersely lyrical stories of Canty's second short story collection. At the beginning of "Aquarium," 38-year-old Olive is in Seattle visiting her nephew who has been caught once again using heroin. They continue an affair, though Olive knows better. "[S]he can practically recite from therapy: It's OK to have this feeling... it's never OK to act." This, Olive thinks, is the secret of adult life, "the secret to OKness." The most successful stories here are about characters, like the protagonist of Canty's novel Into the Great Wide Open, who are painfully learning that being an adult requires pretense. In "Flipper," a fat kid escapes from fat camp and meets a pregnant teenager whose gift of chocolate provokes a larger hunger in him. In "Carolina Beach," Vincent, divorced, and Laurie, dying of cancer, go to a seaside resort seeking a respite from lives in which affection is something read about in a magazine. "Red Dress" is narrated by an 11-year-old who is tired of listening to "the oceanic hubbub below" at his parents' frequent parties and promotes himself to bartender. Then he gets that predictable unbidden glimpse and understands the "assertion of normalcy" behind his mother's casual, dry kisses on the top of his head. Cool, quick and brutal, these stories gives the lie to the heavy realities they chronicle, swooping deftly along a well-honed razor's edge.
Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Library Journal
This is Canty's second short-story collection, after A Stranger in This World: Stories (LJ 8/94). In Canty's terse, revealing tales, something always happens, with inevitable results. "Carolina Beach," an excellent vignette drenched in sadness, limns the story of a woman who may die of cancer and the man who wants to love her. "Red Dress" highlights an adolescent boy who sees his mother, with whom he never connects, change from housewife to glamorous hostess at the parties his parents give. "Flipper" explores the growing pains of a young boy who is sent to a "fatties" camp and is educated in unexpected ways. In the title story, "Honeymoon," when an ex-boyfriend and lesbian girlfriend leave their traitorous friend's wedding, sparks fly and solace comes in alcohol and the great outdoors. These are provocative stories of characters ungrounded, strangers to others and themselves, written with an honesty and in-your-face realism that can take your breath away. Recommended for all libraries with contemporary fiction collections. Mary Szczesiul, Roseville P.L., MI
Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
