Homecoming and reunion are the dominant themes in this brief, uneven collection of short stories. After a long absence, an estranged daughter visits her mother's deathbed in time to hear her last gasp request: "Cut." Albap. 61 files her dead mother's hideously long nails, grown in protest over the daughter's marriage. Another woman visits her dying father and her two aunts who share the same man; pk the menage a trois is the subject of a work of fiction by the niece--a betrayal of family privacy for which she will never be forgiven. The prodigal stories competently build tension and then offer a twist or a striking image but ultimately become predictable. The best story breaks the mold. Veigap. 27 , whose wife dies in childbirth, feeds his son, Bento,p. 29 with an artificial breast strapped to his chest. Yet later Veiga tries to sell his son, putting the boy in charge of negotiations. Perhaps Veiga resents his role as "mother" and the resulting emasculation. Here the Brazilian Van Steen ( Village of the Ghost Bells ) creates a fine puzzle to mull over. Other stories pk give deconstructive outlines that reveal the tricks of literature (character sketches from the author's notebook, for instance) but providepk little to replace lost verisimilitude.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
A Bag of Stories contains fourteen highly structured and multi-layered short stories told in a variety of voices and narrative styles. "Period (Under the influence of soap operas)" is dying Lavanna's last letter to Gabriel, a runaway lover she has not seen for years. "Good Enough to Sing in a Choir" is a poignantly sad and slightly bizarre story of a wig-wearing father who nurses his infant - and eventually ungrateful - son with an artificial breast. "A Day in Three Movements" tells about young Leonor's first job, lecherous boss, and oblivious mother, with regular interruptions suggesting re-write ideas: "But Leonor (or Greta?) might prefer to be placed in a bright modern building... In that case, the custodian could be used in another text. Clip and save." In "The Pledge," Alba, a married woman about to turn fifty - "a half century of experience, a century of sorrow" - visits her mother for the first time in thirty years. "CAROL head LINA heart" begins and ends as a two-column, two-narrator tale of Carolina's meeting with an old lover. "In Spite of Everything" tells about a death from the perspectives of several people, including the victim's. Because Edla Steens' characters all follow an inner path, each narrative is unpredictable and unconventional. A Bag of Stories provides an evocative view of how peculiar, complicated, and creative human beings can be. -- For great reviews of books for girls, check out Let's Hear It for the Girls: 375 Great Books for Readers 2-14. -- From 500 Great Books by Women; review by Jesse Larsen
Ably translated and with an informative introduction by David George, Edla van Steen's intriguing gallery of characters often reflects the twists and turns of her own life and multifaceted career of short story writer, novelist, playwright, translator, scriptwriter, actor, radio announcer, journalist, and promoter of painting and sculpture. Her stories are filled with dramaturgical scenarios and stageworthy monologues and dialogues and at every turn evoke the touch and feel of canvas, collage, and sculpted wood, stone, and metal. Steen brings to her fiction the poet's love of language and unexpected visions of human behavior. her stories are tightly structured and densely layered compositions packed with striking images, unexpected twists, and tantalizing puzzles. This memorable anthology of her work includes Good Enough to Sing in a Choir; Intimacy; The Beauty of the Lion; The Pledge; Nostalgia Row; Before the Dawn; Forever After; Apartment for Rent; CAROL head LINA heart; A Day in Three Movements; In Spite of Everything; The Return; and The Misadventures of Joao. -- Midwest Book Review
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