This Is about the Body, the Mind, the Soul, the World, Time, and Fate by Diane Williams

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Publishers Weekly

The 47 very short stories here combine poetic voice and a sharp eye for cathectic detail to produce a disorienting portrait of modern--specifically female--angst. From ``Baby'': ``Nobody was making my mouth fall open by running his finger down my spine . . . so I could tell him what I keep--what I have been keeping for so long in my bureau drawer underneath my cable-knit pink crew--so I could tell him what I count on happening every time I take it out from under there.'' Typically, Williams never states what lies hidden; repressed themes course throughout all of these works, shifting language and narrative into consistently startling relations. Existence here is diffracted into familiar images: AM radio pitches; children baying; the silent husband, glacial in his torment. Williams's world is a dark, suburban tract lit by crystalline perceptions--arranged in apparent order like porch lights--that nonetheless explain little of the alarming misery within. This is a debut of great psychological subtlety by the editor of StoryQuarterly. (Jan.)