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A review by matthewcpeck
Escapes by Joy Williams
5.0
"There was truly terrifying about girls on the verge of puberty, Gloria thought."
Now this is the kind of book that inspires me to write. Williams' first story collection was very good, but in ESCAPES her voice is more assured and unmistakable. Except for one brief esoteric joke-story called "Gurdjieff In The Sunshine State" (I had to consult ol' Wikipedia), the 11 stories are just about perfect. Centering usually on families affected by divorce, death, a move, or stepparents, and with alcoholic young women or spookily precocious teens as their protagonists. Williams has a knack for casting the mundane amd everyday in a strange and surprising glow (and vice versa). The stories are realistic while the dialogue and characters veer into the surreal and quasi-spiritual. I don't know how she does it, and I hope there's more to come, because I'm almost through her oeuvre...
Now this is the kind of book that inspires me to write. Williams' first story collection was very good, but in ESCAPES her voice is more assured and unmistakable. Except for one brief esoteric joke-story called "Gurdjieff In The Sunshine State" (I had to consult ol' Wikipedia), the 11 stories are just about perfect. Centering usually on families affected by divorce, death, a move, or stepparents, and with alcoholic young women or spookily precocious teens as their protagonists. Williams has a knack for casting the mundane amd everyday in a strange and surprising glow (and vice versa). The stories are realistic while the dialogue and characters veer into the surreal and quasi-spiritual. I don't know how she does it, and I hope there's more to come, because I'm almost through her oeuvre...