The second collection of short fiction (with the occasional essay) from Coppola's Zoetrope, culled by the magazine's founding editor Brodeur and former senior editor Schnee, picks up where the first volume left off, featuring cutting-edge writers and sharp stories with cinematic plot lines. Rick Moody's essay "The Creature Lurches from the Lagoon" recounts the experience of seeing his novel The Ice Storm
adapted into a film. Similarly, in "105 Years of Illustrated Text," Peter Greenaway offers a thoughtful meditation on the relationship between literature and cinema as he describes the inspiration for his film The Pillow Book. One of the most accomplished entries comes from Rick Bass, whose "Ogallala" has an Oregon mill supervisor reflecting on his relationship with his father, a Texas rancher who eschewed family ties and deeded his land to a hardworking Hispanic employee. Provocative concepts abound, the offbeat approach best exemplified by Stacey Richter's "The Cavemen in the Hedges," in which a man loses his girlfriend to one of the Neanderthals who invade their city and take up residence in the streets among the homeless. A few entries fall flat plotwise, but it's hard to beat a lineup that includes the likes of Francine Prose, Touré and Jennifer Egan, among others. The consistent excellence of the prose makes for an enjoyable, engaging read. (June)
