In Her Nature
Karen X. Tulchinsky
—
From Publishers Weekly
This debut collection of loosely linked short stories plays its trump card first. ‘A Different Kind of Love’ is narrated by a Jewish widow who flies from Canada to visit her lesbian daughter, Nomi, in California and meet her daughter’s lover, Sapphire, for the first time. This is a richly layered tale, and Tulchinsky’s pitch is perfect, but unfortunately the stories that follow are not on the same level. Although they sometimes produce a memorable character or situation, they lack complexity, devolving into one-note morality tales, albeit humorous ones. Young Barbara Anna Silverstein does not find it ‘In Her Nature’ to do traditionally girlish things, and when her doctor recommends that her parents force her to do so, she suffers the indignities of wearing dresses and obeying a lengthy list of proscriptions (‘Not allowed to get dirty, climb trees, turn somersaults, yell, put her elbows on the table, pretend two empty thread spools were racing cars and make them crash’). In ‘Fifteen Minutes of Fame,’ Judy discovers that her husband is HIV-positive and has infected her as well. There are some good moments, but Judy’s friend Kayla is too much the martyr and Judy’s husband, Elliott, too shallow (‘We should’ve been using condoms. I know. I tried to bring it up, but she would’ve wondered why’). ‘A Working Dyke’s Dream,’ about a woman who fantasizes constantly about her boss until they finally have sex in the supply room, is pretty ho-hum erotica, although the use of a sandwich bag as a protective glove adds a touch of humor.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Check for it on:
Details
| ISBN | 889612102 |
| Genre | Canadian Eh; Jewish Interest; Short Story Collection (Single Author) |
| Copyright Date | 1995 |
| Publication Date | Oct-95 |
| Publisher | Women’s Press (UK) |
| Format | Trade Paperback |
| No. of Pages | 160 |
| Language | English |
| Rating | NotRated |
| Subject | Fiction |
| BookID | 5882 |
