Above the Houses

These are nine insightful tales starring people quietly hiding their feelings of helplessness from loved ones while navigating through a personal crisis; realism is Susan Enberg's poignant deep collection. The best entry and one of the best shorts of the year is "Time's Body" as an elderly man attends the funeral of his long time wife; anyone over fifty will taste their mortality with that story. Others are as deep as this one whether it is a grandpa who has not met his grandchildren talking with a grandma he just met who has memories of her children, a late spouse and a grandchild, but nothing else ("Beginning"); a new bride undecided between exaltation and detachment towards her new mate ("Moon"); or a woman recognizing her life is filled with lies starting with self-mendacity ("River Hills"). Ms. Enberg is one of the best short story authors on the market today as affirmed by this anthology that has readers marveling at the depths of her everyday people. Harriet Klausner