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LOVE, DEATH, AND THE LADIES' DRILL TEAM by Jessamyn West

LOVE, DEATH, AND THE LADIES' DRILL TEAM

By

Publisher: Harcourt, Brace

An assortment of short stories, by an author whose touch is firm in style and situation, varies from the edges of normality to its core, from the effect of irony to the effect of children and from a matter of fact seriousness to a touch of fantasy. There are two tales of the doings of a ladies' lodge in California (one the title story); a tubercular patient runs away from normal life; a grape grower identifies himself with Thomas Wolfe and copies him in death; a boy raises a prize steer and Must Lear, To Say Good-Byean unwilling mother-in-law gets a present from the man who is going to marry her daughter; a childless old man wants to, but cannot, pass on a dream of living; a sign painter revenges himself on a lost love; twin suits turn a boys' home inside out; a timid man is brought far out of himself by talking over a public address system -- and more. There's a focus which results that keeps these sharp and pointed.