Lost in Uttar Pradesh: New and Selected Stories
*Starred Review* Connell is best known for his classic novels Mrs. Bridge (1958) and Mr. Bridge (1969) and for his best-selling account of General Custer’s battle at Little Big Horn, Son of the Morning Star (1984). Aficionados of the short story, however, have long known Connell to be a master of the form, and this is his first collection of new and previously published stories in more than 10 years. With a singular style marked by concision, vivid detail, and oblique narration, Connell is not easy to read yet remains consistently mesmerizing. In the 22 stories collected here, he provides an update, in “Mrs. Proctor Bemish,” on the pitch-perfect portrait of the repressed midwestern psyche immortalized in the Bridge novels; continues to tease out the differences between inveterate travelers and workaday citizens; and creates, out of mundane events such as a disastrous dinner party or a wedding anniversary celebration, stark moments of alienation and disaffection. Amid the bleakness, however, he also summons fleeting joy and wry comedy. In particular, the three lengthy stories featuring Muhlbach, whose wife is dying, contain luminous depictions of Muhlbach’s children—his doll-like daughter, Donna, and his masterfully manipulative son, Otto, who agitates in hilarious fashion to postpone his bedtime. By turns haunting and mysterious, Connell’s work continues to intrigue. --Joanne Wilkinson