Nothing Right

In this powerful collection of 11 short stories, Nelson's brilliantly constructed characters negotiate love, family, home and truth. Nelson consistently pays exquisite attention to detail, resulting in rich, vivid characters and settings. In “OBO,” a family is gathered together for the holidays, their day reflected in the items on the kitchen table: “sparkling glitter that stuck in the syrup... then later... came the peanuts and poker chips and whiskey.” In “Kansas,” a wife's pregnancy (“a weapon he could plant like a bomb”) keeps an unhappy marriage alive. In “Party of One,” a woman secretly suffering from cancer meets her sister's adulterous lover in a bar to put an end to the relationship. While most of the stories in this collection have been previously published (many in the New Yorker ), two are new: “We and They” and “People People.” Nelson writes with wonderful grace and skill, each word carefully chosen, each passage carefully constructed. This beautiful collection is another remarkable accomplishment for a writer often hailed as one of our most talented storytellers. (Feb.)