PROSE PIZZA

Schumacher presents a collection of short pieces, both fiction and nonfiction, about life, love, and assorted miscellany.

In this collection of nine stories (the author states they were written over half a century ago), readers encounter a wide variety of premises and scenarios, each captured in just a few pages. There are predominantly informational entries, like “To Whom It May Concern,” which concentrates on the distinction between bedbugs and German roaches and helpfully informs readers that, “Of the approximately fifty-three species of cockroaches found in the United States, the most common is the German cockroach, which has the habit of hatching 15 to 40 offspring at frequent intervals.” There are more traditional stories grounded in interpersonal drama, such as “State of Matrimony,” in which a woman named Katherine is counseled about her relationship with her husband, Arthur, by her friend Rea (“If there’s anyone who understands men and marriage,” Rea tells her, “it’s me”). Some of the stories are driven by whimsy, and all of them have a more-or-less obvious moral throughline. In “Change of Heart,” a crabby neighbor named Mr. Pritchett insists on blaming a cat named Esmeralda for the various items of his that have gone missing recently (“he made it a habit to inspect his garden every few hours during the day to be sure Esmeralda was nowhere in sight”), only to learn a heartwarming lesson by the tale’s end. This friendly, happy tone animates the whole of the author’s collection, carried by the simple but effective cadence of her prose. This extends even to the book’s darkest (and strongest) story, “Sing No Sad Songs,” about a woman dealing with growing old. Schumacher’s fiction is slight, but this slim volume will likely provide some wistful smiles.

An unassuming and largely cheering collection of brief tales.