Michelle Latiolais

Although this is technically a collection of short stories, it reads more like a novella describing the state of mind and experiences of a character. They involve reflections by a woman who lost her husband 7 years earlier after 18 years of marriage, although not all stories take place after he died. Mild spoiler: There are hints that he died as a result of medical malpractice, perhaps in the administration of some drug. The prose is both powerful and elegant, although I can understand that it may be difficult to digest, even depressing. I really began to feel for this lonely woman pondering what to do with the rest of her life. The last story will probably knock you back; it did me.

I want to reread it sometime; something I say about few books. However, I would not recommend it to someone who recently lost a loved one.… (meer)

Michelle Latiolais is one of the best writers working today--one deserving of a much wider readership. Her novels are dense, challenging (in a great way), and immensely rewarding. Her sentences are like intricate gems, refracting in all sorts of interesting ways when you hold them to the light. Here's the opening sentence: "Stan engines into Luke's office, his legs pistoning, fanatical, fueled by something seemingly unstoppable and mechanical, and so frightening--and frightening anew each time, Luke must admit--because each time Luke is alarmed and he knows it registers in his eyes and body until the physician arrives on board and he remembers who he is in this equation called doctor and patient."… (meer)

‘She’ is an odd little book, neither novel nor short stories. Nameless women populate the chapters-stories? – with one girl, a fifteen year old runaway from a strict, abusive, fundamentalist family wandering in and out throughout the book. She has no idea what Los Angeles is like, but manages to have a charmed arrival, encountering good people who wish her no harm- which strikes me as very unrealistic. One woman faces cancer; another knows her husband has yet another girlfriend, and this one may be serious; her friend makes elegant, super realistic floral cake decorations yet is low paid for them and the baker she sells to claims to make them himself. One woman meets a man at the gas station who flirts with her and asks her to have coffee with him; the result of her decision there is horrifying.

There is no time in these vignettes to get a deep feeling for these women. We see them pass by but they don’t linger, although the end story gives us the feeling that a longer chapter may be starting. Kind of an enjoyable read but sort of fluffy.… (meer)