Worship of the Common Heart (Paperback: 225 pages)

Book Magazine

MacMurray & Beck358 pagesWritten over a span of twenty years, these nineteen wise and emotionally complex short stories by the 1999 National Book Award finalist reveal her to be an unusual writer of true distinction. Focusing on women at all stages of their lives, the earlier stories feature restless women who've always been on the move but are finally faced with settling down, as well as those trying to make it on the fringe of mainstream life. In the lovely "As Luck Would Have It," the rhythm of the seasons dictates the shape and form of relationships, while in "The Late Hunt" a woman has to repress her real feelings about a deer hunt for the sake of her relationship. Relationships, marriage and motherhood, and how they define women's lives, feature prominently in most of the stories. Mothers collapse under the strain of dealing with irresponsible husbands and too many children, while others become hard and bitter due to disappointment and dashed dreams. Sexuality permeates a lot of ...these stories, such as in "Hard Feelings," where a daughter's emerging sexuality ignites her mother's, or in the raw "Friday Night," where two women casually chat about their disillusionment with their open-marriage lifestyles. Immediate in their impact, these stories distinguish themselves from the bland sameness that characterizes much of contemporary short fiction.—Ann Collette Read more Less