cover image Rejoice!

Rejoice!

Carl Tighe. Jonathan Cape, $23.95 (153pp) ISBN 978-0-224-03023-6

This debut collection from a young British writer displays a remarkable variety of styles and subjects. Tighe is a restless experimenter, using a different approach for each of his 12 short stories. Donald Barthelme's influence is obvious here, especially in ``Bug Out,'' whose numbered paragraphs read like a series of TV interviews, and in ``1950: The Year of the Tiger,'' ostensibly a list of facts that might be found in a reference book. Too often, though, form overwhelms content, and Tighe's unusual characters--including a Dutch priest obsessed with birds, an Englishman drafted into the Vietnam war and an anal-retentive child--are usually just described rather than vividly brought to life. However, ``A Kiss at the Crossroads,'' an elliptical account of a widower's coming to terms with his wife's death, is sharply observed and efficiently told, indicating a talent not evident elsewhere in the collection. ( Feb. )