SWIMMING LESSONS AND OTHER STORIES

A collection of witty short stories with an eccentric cast.

McNear’s prose is often delightfully spare, allowing the characters and their misadventures to shine, like in “Lifesaving”: “Louise had choked at a dinner for a famous poet…a piece of meat, pork actually, had flown across the table…leaving a permanent juice stain on what Louise described as her best, fog-gray silk blouse.” There is a layer of dejection here, enough to make some players often feel removed from the action, as in McNear’s standout—“Swimming Lessons.” The narrator observes from a distance, spending her time at the pool in the Razzmatazz Club grieving her husband’s death while studying her fellow poolside habitués, such as the staff who rehearse Pinter plays in their downtime or Plant Man, who gardens at the club. McNear’s writing continually surprises; while contemplating the concept of closure, the protagonist muses, “Or would it be more akin to the shutting of a door, to the mother who has said one last goodnight to her child, announcing, almost inaudibly, but firmly, that is enough.” The author also has a talent for the entertainingly absurd. For example, in “Florida,” one woman ends up pelting another with produce at a Publix years after a disastrous vacation they spent with one another. Similarly, this brief line in “The Birthday”: “Why does Mickey Rooney make me think of chocolate-covered raisins.” One minor issue; a couple of stories feel much too short to leave an impact (“The Dog and the Chair” and “Pearls”). Aside from this small gripe (which is actually a testament to McNear’s fiction and the desire for more of it), this collection is lively and wry and worth the read.

An appealing, remarkable collection from a talented writer.