Don't read this collection of dull stories expecting any insight into Maine or its residents; it was clearly written by someone "from away" and many of the stories bear no relation to the state at all except a throw-away line or reference. I assume they were added later when the author was searching for some way to tie together these meandering fragments. ( )

The book's just 206 pages long. If it were any much longer, I suspect at some point I'd have invoked the Pearl Rule and just dumped it. I'd never read anything else by Beattie, but I got this one because of its subtitle, Maine Stories, and Maine is my favorite setting for regional literature.

Unfortunately, The State We're In could have been set in Michigan, Minnesota, or wherever for all that its "regionalism" suggested. I'd been expecting something like The Country of the Pointed Firs, The Edge of Darkness, Olive Kitteridge – a collection of stories held together by a central character – but The State We're In contains no Almira Todd, no Sarah Holt , and no Olive.The girl Jocelyn makes some scattered appearances but she's in no way a unifying character. Instead what we have is a conglomeration of mostly inane stories that could have been set anywhere. ( )

Years ago Ann Beattie made me appreciate short stories. I've savored every one of her books . . . but this one has me lost. I feel like I'm the outsider who walked into a party with a series of mid-conversations with people I don't know, who won't let me in.

( )

I have been reading Ann Beattie novels and short stories for 35 years. She has always been one of my favorite authors. When I was working, I rarely read short stories but she was one that I did read. The is a collection that is loosely centered around the state of Main. Her characters are quirky and her prose tends to start with something and go off into major digressions. She is a lot like Jim Harrison. If you can follow the thread, then you really get to see how creative she is. Like many short story writers, she tends to give us ambiguous endings, but that is what real life is like. If you have never read her, then this collection is an excellent introduction to a great writer. It is only 200 pages long. I also suggest "Chilly Scenes of Winter", one of her first novels set in the 70's. It was made into a move, but the book is excellent. A good way to look at an author's work at the beginning and later stages of her career. ( )

In my early days of book collecting, I avidly searched out authors whose books I admired. My goal was signed copies. I was not so careful in those days, because I have a lot of inscribed copies that are book club editions, or sometimes many editions removed from the first. I only cared about the signature for my own personal collection – never about collection values. Most authors gladly signed my books, but sometimes I had to use some minor subterfuge to gain access to those authors shy about meeting strangers. When I heard Anne Beattie had been asked to speak at Rutgers University, I headed there with a few of her novels. I learned there would be no signing after the lecture, but I told the guard I was a free-lance writer and reviewer, and wanted to talk to her about an article I was writing. She agreed to see me, and she graciously signed my copies and answered a few questions, which I dutifully wrote into my notebook. All true, although the article never found its way into print. When I admire an author, I will go to many lengths to establish a connection – no matter how brief. Now, Beattie has come out with a collection of short stories, The State We’re In. While I really love her novels, I am thoroughly seduced by her short stories.

These 15 stories are loosely connected. Most deal with teenagers suffering under the onus of parents, who are all, to my mind, parents normally concerned about the welfare of their offspring. The peek into the mind of teenagers at the beginning and middle of their rebellious years awakens memories of my teen years and reminds me of what my students endure today.

One character who appears in the first story, “What Magic Realism Would Be,” and in the seventh story, “Endless Rain into a Paper Cup,” is Jocelyn. In “Magic Realism,” she agonizes over an assignment in her English class, and in “Endless,” Uncle Raleigh, now worries about her passing algebra. He encourages her, because he knows she is smart. Beattie writes, “‘Thanks for saying something nice to me.’ // ‘That’s because I believe you deserve niceness, Jocelyn.’ […] ‘If you don’t mind, could you print [your essay] out, because I can’t read that little screen, as you know. And as I tell you every night.’ // She got up from his office chair, where she’d been slumped, writing and picking at her pedicure. She turned on his printer. When it printed out, it was not quite two pages. // ‘Yesterday’s was three pages,’ he said immediately. // ‘She’s tired of reading long papers.’ Jocelyn lied to Raleigh and Bettina – certainly to Bettina – and to her sort of best friend, who was lucky enough to be in Australia this summer, even if it did have to be with her family and her retarded – really, actually retarded – brother, the challenged Daniel Junior, who picked his nose right in front of you” (3). No political correctness in Jocelyn, and she certainly spares no one.

In “Endless,” Jocelyn has a conversation with her English teacher. Beattie writes, “Ms. Nementhal held open the side door. Jocelyn trotted ahead of her, her ears a little zingy, for some reason. Just listening to Ms. Nememthal had been exciting. She seemed to think she could do anything. If Jocelyn ever got into any college, it would be a miracle. Her mother said that tutoring for the SAT was too expensive, and she couldn’t disagree. All you could do was read stuff on the Internet and get pointers from your friends, the most helpful so far being that the questions were essentially simple, but they pointed you in a direction that made you question your own perceptions, so you’d change things at the last second and answer wrong” (76). English professors can be quite influential.

I found the occasional use of second person a bit off putting, but I see that in my students’ essays, so I guess that’s the way of the world. Anne Beattie has been included in four O. Henry Award collections, in John Updike’s The Best Short Stories of the Century, and in The Best American Short Stories of 2014. She has won numerous other awards. She currently teaches creative writing at the University of Virginia. If Anne Beattie is an unfamiliar name, The State We’re In is a fine entre into the world of Anne Beattie. 5 stars

--Jim, 10/3/15 ( )