Dinosaurs on Other Planets

Irish short story writer McLaughlin’s immersive first collection casts a stern eye on individuals, couples, and families caught in nets of their own making, where even the mildest passion can lead to death, and journeys home with new lovers can reveal grim secret lives. Dead insects and decomposing birds abound, and when flowers appear, they’re apt to give off “an odd rancid smell... hot and sweaty and carnal, like meat on the point of turning.” McLaughlin sometimes leans on predictable symbolism and epiphanies: if a thoughtfully arranged table of crystal birds and other animals shows up early in a story, the crystals, by the end, are likely to be shattered. But the author’s precise observations and her compassion toward characters, such as a husband desperately trying to deal with his wife’s mental illness or a girl willing to sell her body to temporarily save the family business, make these stories memorable. And stories such as “The Art of Foot-Binding,” where passages from a fictional Chinese manual on the subject are interposed with a plot about a depressed present-day schoolgirl and her confused mother, or the title story, which opens up into an ambiguous ending rather than tying its strands up neatly, show the ample bag of tricks McLaughlin has at her disposal. [em](Aug.) [/em]