Helpful Score: 3
A stunning collection of 5 stories and a novella that confirms Jane Smiley's place as one of our most gifted writers. Clear and elegant and filled with the unmistakable sound of real people going about the business-and the pleasure-of real life. In the novella, "The Age of Grief", a man meditates on the vagaries of love and family life. Certain that his wife has fallen in love with someone else, and been spurned by him, he tries to recover what he calls "the ironic middle", the good-humored, matter-of-fact heart of the marriage where he can keep her from knowing of his own sorrow.
Phenomenal stories. The title novella is a heartbreaker, and was made into the movie "The Secret Life of Dentists." I have read this collection over and over again. Jane Smiley is a wonderful writer.
By one of the big modern novelists.
From cover: "A glorious achievement." The New York Times Book Review
This is the book that got me hooked on Smiley. It spoke to me so well of the small things that go on in families that mean so much in the end.
This is a collection of sophisticated stories, the author having won a Pulitzer for another book. I read and enjoyed Jeffrey, Believe Me on the bus this morning.
