Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Cheating at Canasta, by William Trevor


A collection of short stories revealing both the dark and the brilliant sides of different lives. The subjects range from death - unintended murder, death by illness, death of a dog - to love - lost, regained, lost again - to just somehow living. The stories all reveal the innermost feelings of a mind, the regrets, the nagging doubts, the guilt, and more than once I asked myself "would I have acted in the same way?" I worried that I might.

Thus they are searching stories. They dig in and don't make it easy for us. Yet they are compelling and eternally human.

2 comments:

Wendy said...

This book also is listed as a 2008 ALA notable! I added that to your categories on this post :)

Judith Lautner said...

Don't you love it when a book goes two years in a row?