Sarah Bagby's book reviews can be heard on alternate Mondays on KMUW 89.1.
Here's a transcript of her most recent review. To listen, go to
http://www.publicbroadcasting.net/kmuw/.artsmain/article/16/59/1288055/Sarah.Bagby's.Book.Review./Sarah.Bagby's.Book.Review/
"Our Story Begins: New and Selected Stories" by Tobias Wolff (Knopf,
9781400044597, $26.95)
Tobias Wolff has been described as a writer of the highest order: part
storyteller, part philosopher, someone deeply engaged in asking hard
questions that take a life to resolve. His new book, "Our Story Begins"
lives up to that high praise.
The stories in this collection, ten of which are brand new, deal with the
lies people construct in their efforts to fulfill their desires. In a time
where the line between fiction and non-fiction is blurred by fraudulent
memoirists, Wolff's use of the lie in fiction gets closer to the truth of
his imagined characters, closer to knowing their hearts and desires, closer
than any of us may ever get to knowing our own hearts.
In the story "Liar," a boy spreads untruths about his healthy mother. "Deep
Kiss" contrasts a young man's obsession with a promiscuous classmate and his
failure to connect to his dying father; "In the Garden of the North American
Martyrs" is a classic story that locates the breaking point of a literature
professor who discovers she is interviewing for a falsely offered job. She
proceeds to give an outrageous lecture, totally at odds with her steady
nature.
Elegant, spare, and satisfying, Tobias Wolff reveals life's truth in all its
guises.
Review by Sarah
Bagby, June 12, 2008
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