This Close

January 21, 2013
Kane’s second collection of stories (after The Report) is steeped in family and community anxiety and often dazzles. Stand-alone stories separate two suites of linked tales, and though these are exceptionally well written, others, like the detached “Lucky Boy,” rely on somewhat contrived premises—in this case, a visit to a dry cleaners that evolves into a strange owner/patron relationship—that don’t quite lead to genuine surprise. Much stronger are the stories that fill the volume’s second half, for here Kane inhabits the psyche of those at risk, with terrific results. Published in slightly different form in Bending Heaven, Kane’s first collection, the reworked “Evidence of Old Repairs” finds a woman desperately trying to create a keepsake memory for her daughter, while the collection’s closing trio of stories—“The Stand-In,” “The Old Beginning,” and “Local Birds”—slowly peel away a family’s layers of connection over 20-odd years of experience. Kane’s greatest achievement, however, is the stunning “Next in Line,” a smart, heartbreaking entry that chronicles a mourning mother who loiters at a local CVS pharmacy, convinced that a touch from the grim reaper, disguised as a woman in a black pant suit, led to her daughter’s death.

January 1, 2013
The third book and second story collection from Kane (The Report, 2010, etc.) offers 12 lucid, elegant and immersive stories about interpersonal strains and tensions among lovers, neighbors, children and their parents, and so on. In "Lucky Boy," a young New Yorker's relationship with his dry cleaner veers from the comforts of mere commerce, and he finds himself cast in the role of catch-playing father figure--until and unless his fiancee, who's colder and more city-savvy, steps in to end it, an intervention he seems both to desire and to dread. In "American Lawn," a Croatian refugee rents garden space in a city backyard during a drought--and exposes a rift between lonely neighbors, devoted to their rivalrous ideas about what neighborliness is and should be, who compete in ever more childish and embarrassing ways for his attention. In the book's most poignant story, "Next in Line," a grieving mother haunts the drug store where an acerbic older woman seems simultaneously to chide her for bad parenting and to predict--with heart-rending accuracy--her toddler's imminent death. "The Essentials of Acceleration" features a 40-year-old woman who never achieved escape velocity. She lives in her hometown, stuck in a way she knows all too well but can't quite acknowledge, alongside her father, a retired professor who stays active and popular despite his gathering infirmities. She's haunted less by the tragedy of her mother's accidental death than by resentment of her father for having, unforgivably, soldiered on afterward. Several of the stories feature inward, dour, private people who simultaneously envy and scorn those who seem to have an easier time of it: the gift of gab, the sunny disposition, the ability to put heartbreak and recrimination behind them, the yen to act rather than merely longing silently and crabbily from the sidelines. The stories are quiet--Kane has little interest in stylistic pyrotechnics, flashy plots or formal play--but they are subtle, persuasive and psychologically complex. Another worthy book from a fine writer.

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February 1, 2013

Kane's second collection (after Bending Heaven) shows the author's talent for dissecting the subtle dynamics of family life. Kane presents two sets of connecting stories with repeating characters and five standalones. The sequenced stories stand out for their shifting perspectives, narrators, and time lines, and for the variation between longer, detailed accounts and shorter pieces that highlight a formative episode. In the first of these one-page miniatures, called "The Lesson," the reader encounters a single mother who challenges her son to get her fingers off the steering wheel while she is driving, with a flash forward to the son's remembering this moment when he begins to drive a year later. The middle stories shift focus from that same strong mother enlisting her young son to help with a yard sale that clearly signifies an unwelcome move and then on the son as a college graduate paying a long-delayed condolence call on the mother of a friend. The second miniature presents the mother, later in life, with no reference to the son. VERDICT The stories in this collection have an appeal reminiscent of Chekhov's plays. Kane's characters seldom say what they mean or mean what they say. Instead, we come to know them from the familiar ways they present themselves within the family constellation.--Sue Russell, Bryn Mawr, PA

Copyright 2013 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2013
In the 12 stories collected here, Kane once again reminds readers of her ability to observe life's finer details while keeping a sharp eye on the big picture. In Lucky Boy, a newcomer to New York City develops an unusual relationship with his dry cleaner while learning to navigate life in the Big Apple. Two neighbors in American Lawn share a garden plot while competing for the attentions of a local farmer. A mother and her young son ponder their respective pasts and futures while selling their possessions at a garage sale in First Sale. Lesson places this same duo behind the wheel of a moving car several years later, providing a snapshot of their changing relationship. Readers of Kane's well-received debut novel, The Report (2010), will recognize her steady hand and welcome another opportunity to experience her carefully crafted work. Intriguing, delicate, graceful, and deeply moving, this is a collection to be read and pondered over. It will draw readers into worlds both foreign and familiar while turning the everyday into something extraordinary.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)