The State We're In

A collection of short stories loosely related to the state of Maine, this audio presentation put the reviewer in mind of what Sarah Orne Jewett might write were she alive today. Cassandra Campbell's narration savors the slow exploration of character and place in each narrative, few of which contain any real plot. Wisely, she refrains from attempting any of the state's distinctive accents. But one would think a professional like Campbell would know better than to commit the dreaded pronunciation errors of "Banger" for Maine's city of Bangor and "Bow-dwin" for Bowdoin College. But these and other scattered hiccups aside, her performance suits Beattie's gentle exploration of "Vacationland." The listener will want to savor each tale. R.L.L. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine

Starred review from June 1, 2015
Beattie's new collection of stories, her first original volume since Follies (2005) and following the spectacular retrospective gathering, The New Yorker Stories (2010), is graced by a slyly clever title. The state these 15 stories are anchored to is Maine, jutting up away from the rest of the country in rocky, woodsy splendor, which does nothing to keep out the human volatility found everywhere else ( No day failed to contain the unexpected ), while the states of mind her fumbling characters find themselves in range from depressed to enraged to resigned. Beattie is a master at depicting the peculiarly painful valor necessary for contending with troubled family members, spouses, lovers, neighbors, even pets. She is also that rarest of beings, a brilliantly comic literary writer. Some of her hilarity is circumstantial, such as when neighborhood kids break into an empty house and discover a cache of Elvis lamps. Most often, it's her skirmishing dialogue that makes us laugh out loud as she dramatizes everything from an auction of beat-up household goods to a tender encounter between a poet in her seventies and an IRS agent, revelations of gay relationships, and tales about anxious teenager Jocelyn, a budding writer. One narrator muses, The whole world's full of stories, but few can tell them as exquisitely, warmly, or drolly as Beattie. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Much fanfare will attend this stellar collection by Beattie, a writer revered and honored for her keen insights and wit.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)