cover image In Her Nature

In Her Nature

Karen X. Tulchinsky. Women's Press (UK), $19.95 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-88961-210-5

This debut collection of loosely linked short stories plays its trump card first. ``A Different Kind of Love'' is narrated by a Jewish widow who flies from Canada to visit her lesbian daughter, Nomi, in California and meet her daughter's lover, Sapphire, for the first time. This is a richly layered tale, and Tulchinsky's pitch is perfect, but unfortunately the stories that follow are not on the same level. Although they sometimes produce a memorable character or situation, they lack complexity, devolving into one-note morality tales, albeit humorous ones. Young Barbara Anna Silverstein does not find it ``In Her Nature'' to do traditionally girlish things, and when her doctor recommends that her parents force her to do so, she suffers the indignities of wearing dresses and obeying a lengthy list of proscriptions (``Not allowed to get dirty, climb trees, turn somersaults, yell, put her elbows on the table, pretend two empty thread spools were racing cars and make them crash''). In ``Fifteen Minutes of Fame,'' Judy discovers that her husband is HIV-positive and has infected her as well. There are some good moments, but Judy's friend Kayla is too much the martyr and Judy's husband, Elliott, too shallow (``We should've been using condoms. I know. I tried to bring it up, but she would've wondered why''). ``A Working Dyke's Dream,'' about a woman who fantasizes constantly about her boss until they finally have sex in the supply room, is pretty ho-hum erotica, although the use of a sandwich bag as a protective glove adds a touch of humor. (Dec.)