Star Game

Nevai brings a disenchanted eye, a sharp ear and an instinct for the unexpected to these 14 closely observed tales traversing a wide range of human predicaments, of often desolate men and women in quest of some connection, however transient, self-destructive or futile. The lonely Connor (""Connor's Lake'' and ``Star Game''), desolated by the failure of his marriage, loves his pregnant neighbor. Married to a worthless, unfaithful, fatuous man who is ``into'' a ``realization'' group, she responds in kind, but their destinies will take them in different directions. Involved in a ``serious'' affair with a divorced man, the divorced mother in another story tries to reach her difficult sons and establish some bond between boys and man; she settles for an ambiguous gesture from one son. Another mother (``Sad-Womb Son''), devastated by the kidnapping of her child, tries desperately to reassemble her splintered self. The grotesque suprises that can disturb ordinary life are vividly reflected in these sadly disconcerting tales. (October 31)