Samuel Johnson Is Indignant: Stories
To herald a Davis book as "the usual" may sound like faint  praise, but the writer's loyal fans know that it is anything  but. In this latest collection, Davis (Almost No Memory; The End  of the Story) doesn't disappoint: the 56 stories paragraph-long  meditations, stories in sections and humorous  one-liners showcase the wordplay and distillation of meaning  that have become her stylistic hallmarks, offering up crisp  twists on familiar themes. In "The Meeting," a woman's corporate  encounter sparks an internal identity crisis and rant; the  childbearing conundrum is nailed in "A Double Negative."  Relationships are probed in stories ranging from "Old Mother and  the Grouch," with its fancifully imagined characters, to the  brief "Finances," which gives voice to the messy issue of  domestic equality. There are riffs on mown lawns and the use of  the word "cremains" by a funeral parlor, and spooled-out  ponderings on domestic priorities, selfishness and boring  friends. Communication and language are paramount in Davis's  world: an elderly man searches for his brother a language  researcher in a hostile environment in "In a Northern Country,"  and a one-sided question-and-answer session in "Jury Duty" is  the more revealing for what is omitted. The title story is an  example of the author's famous one-liners that provide initial  quick humor, then cause the reader to think again. And a longer  story about Marie Curie, told in sections, fascinates with its  interior imaginings. Eclectic and astute, Davis continues to  find new ways to tell us the things we need to know. (Oct.) Forecast: Davis attracts a cultish core audience, and the low  price of this hardcover title should make it an attractive  impulse purchase.Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.