enthusiastic reader

Tobias Wolff Some of the stories in  In the Garden of the North American Martyrs 1. Next Door The narrator and his wife, unnamed, live next door to a man who abuses his wife and dog, and who is hostile to the narrator and his wife. The neighbor urinates on the narrator's flowers while the narrator watches. The narrator characterizes the neighbor as "hairy" and likens him to an Airedale. The narrator does not take action against the violence; he and his wife listen to it in impotent despair. The narrator cultivates plants and the garden; his wife has been ill and rebuffs her husband's sexual advances. This odd and lonely life seems to have been exacerbated by a particularly violent encounter the pair witness from the window: the man beats the dog into submission and then he and his wife have passionate sex, all visible through the window. The narrator's wife here turns against the neighbor woman, judging her to be complicit in the abuse. The final sentence, w...

Tenth of December  by George Saunders My notes 1. Victory Lap The imagination of a girl named Alison is unspooled in this first story of the collection. She is full of romantic ideals about boys and thought in French phrases. "So ixnay on the local boys. a special ixnay on Matt Drey, owner of the largest mouth in the land." She thinks about her parents, teachers, ethics. Then there is an ominous knock at the back door. Kyle questions the "family status indicator," which his father built in the downstairs workshop. The father has left a note that shows the incredibly strict expectations for behavior and habits. Kyle's mind races for ways to live up to these rules. "I know we sometimes strike you as strict but you are literally all we have."Kyle sees the stranger trying to abduct Alison. He cannot decide what to do. But then he acts.  Victory Lap  is not as absurdist as the stories of CivilWarLand in Bad Decline . There is a manic quality to the po...

"A Sheltered Woman" by Yiyun Li The New Yorker, March 10, 2014 Auntie Mei is a first-month baby nurse with strict rules about her care of new mothers and infants. She does not want to become attached to the babies and refuses to have anything to do with them once she is no longer in their care. Conversely, the new mother named Chanel for whom Auntie Mei is caring has a self-proclaimed case of postpartum depression; she wants nothing to do with her son and is angry because her much-older husband is never home to be part of this new development in their family. Over time, Auntie Mei sees the possibility of taking care of this new baby boy full time as she recalls the history of her mother and grandmother and how they dealt with having babies.

"The Largess of the Sea Maiden" Short story by Denis Johnson Appears in the 3/3/14 New Yorker An adman recalls moments of impact and conversation with several people in his life. The episodes are quiet but have had an impact on him. He recalls a friend who painted and then died. He attends the memorial. He is given an award for an ad and then propositioned in the bathroom. The sense of death looming over him and the world is large. But there is a hint of resignation and even slight satisfaction. This is the first Denis Johnson I've ever read. I want more.

The Late Novels of Gene Hackman A Short Story by Rivka Calchen December 9, 2013 The New Yorker J, a young writer with some minor success, is invited to a writer's conference in Key West. She isn't perceptive and she is judgmental; older people, in her eyes, have lost their power and ability to be interesting. She has invited her stepmother to join her (Q) and spends a lot of time worrying and wondering about this Burmese woman. The best parts of the story are the weird conversations, the small details about the other attendees, the confrontation. Also, there is a moment at the end where J feels hopeful.