I love Ellen Gilchrist and have read most of what she has written. However, I had never read the book for which she won the National Book Award.

Gilchrist usually writes short stories as opposed to a conventional novel. However, the same cast of characters weave in and out of all of her stories so, in the end, they seem like old friends.

Soome of these stories I have read in other collections of her work and some are brand new to me. But the characters, Rhoda, Nora Jean, Crystal & Traceleen are like members of my family who I love to visit over and over again. ( )

3210. Victory Over Japan / A Book of Stories, by Ellen Gilchrist (read 21 June 1999) This won the 1984 National Book Award. Many of the stories are weird (they have nothing to do with war) and some are so goofy as to be funny. There are 14 stories and none are worth exulting about but they are easy to read and are told in a clear style. I still have 22 National Book Award-winners for fiction unread. ( )