Crash Diet: Stories

"Invigorating . . . Savagely effective . . . Displays the same wit and ironic compassion that gained so many fans for her novels."--The New York Times Book ReviewModern stories for modern times, Crash Diet is at once brilliant and bitter, happy and heartbreaking. In eleven stories, acclaimed novelist Jill McCorkle tells the varied tales of today's southern women, the lives they end up leading, and the loves that distract them. Sandra knows that the best revenge is her ex-husband's credit card; Ruthie is stuck owning a motel that the highway has bypassed; Anna is a widow who goes to airports and looks in on other people's lives; Bunny waits eagerly for her absent sister's postcards for advice on how to live.Stuck in the slow lane, gunning their motors, they are women living the real life, hoping things will get better, but surprised when they occasionally do.From Publishers WeeklyIn this peppery, potent collection by McCorkle ( Ferris Beach ), 11 memorable women, ranging from high school student to retiree, confide details of troubled relationships. Without fail, their voices, hopes and sorrows hit the mark; it's easy to empathize with them and to uneasily recall moments when our own lives have mirrored theirs. Optimism and sorrow are here in equal measure: the title story's chronic dieter, abandoned by her husband, surprises herself by coping with marital crisis and unwittingly losing weight. The selective, feisty narrator of "Man Watcher" admits that her search for a male partner may be a "snipe hunt," the undeniably odd main character of "Comparison Shopping" learns with dismay that a couple on The New Newlywed Game consider her their "weirdest friend," and the teenage heroine of "Carnival Lights" discovers that the hottest gossip in town is about her boyfriend's mom. In the wrenching "Departures," an inconsolable widow spends time utterly alone in busy airports and malls, and in "Waiting for Hard Times to End," a girl worries when an expected postcard from her freewheeling, fearless older sister fails to arrive. McCorkle imbues her capable women with extraordinary depth and dimension, and she resolves their situations with enchanting grace and wit. Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Library JournalIn her first short story collection, McCorkle resumes her remarkable storytelling skills, already demonstrated in four well-received novels: The Cheer Leader (Algonquin, 1984), July 7th (Algonquin, 1984), Tending to Virginia ( LJ 9/1/87), and Ferris Beach ( LJ 9/15/90). Widows, recent divorcees, teenage girls, retired women, and single mothers populate these pages. Each woman imparts to McCorkle's fortunate readers a touching, downright bone-tickling account of her individual struggle in the New South. Despite the variety of voices, any of these women might easily conclude, as does Norlina in "Comparison Shopping," "I feel for the first time that there is a place for me in this world and I no longer need a passport to get there." Highly recommended for academic and public libraries. Previewed in Prepub Alert, LJ 1/92.-Faye A. Chadwell, Univ. of South Carolina Lib., ColumbiaCopyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.