cover image Hot Chicken Wings

Hot Chicken Wings

Jyl Lynn Felman. Aunt Lute Books, $9.95 (176pp) ISBN 978-1-879960-21-3

These 11 short stories, plus an introduction about the double-edged identity problem of their Jewish lesbian author, are diverting but never add up to a collection. Although they share a theme--being on the ``outside''--each wanders off in its own direction, and most stop just short of making their points. One of the stories is narrated by both the mother of a lesbian and the woman who was her high school tennis coach and lover, but never by the subject herself. Another tells of a woman going on vacation with her parents; although it hints at the daughter's feelings of entrapment, the story never fully acknowledges them. A third describes a girl's ambivalent feelings towards her grandfather, poking at emotions that lurk just beneath the surface but never revealing their roots. This failure to complete ideas is all the more frustrating because Felman displays a fine grasp of language and a quick sense of humor. She never shies from strong words or images; in the introduction, for example, she states that ``eating pussy for me is just like eating treyf .'' An occasionally inaccurate glossary of Yiddish and Hebrew words is a friendly but unnecessary gesture. This is a debut collection. (Dec.)