Something That Feels Like Truth (Switchgrass)
God, they say, is in the details, and for the characters populating award-winning novelist Lystra’s (Season of Water and Ice, 2010) luminous collection of short stories, truth lies there, too.  Set in and around the Midwest, from Chicago’s glittering lakefront to Michigan’s frigid Upper Peninsula, Lystra’s tales follow ordinary people as they experience extraordinary wonder through events large and small.  A widower confronts the realities of his marriage during a pickup-bar flirtation in “Rain Check,” while a recently separated husband navigates the perilous new world of building relationships in “Speaking of Love Abstractedly.”  Fathers and sons, husbands and wives, brothers and friends all find cause for reflection in the quotidian acts of their lives, where perceptions and misconceptions coalesce in often tragic, sometimes illuminating ways.  Lystra is a discerning observer of the human condition and a deft communicator of the myriad ways in which best intentions may not always achieve satisfying results.  Fans of Richard Russo’s and Richard Ford’s short fiction will find a kindred spirit in this stellar collection of masterfully crafted gems. --Carol Haggas