Director of the World and Other Stories

I met Jane McCafferty a few months back, and she seemed like a real decent person, so I figured I'd give her writing a shot. I am so glad I did. In story after story, McCafferty beautifully captures the sadness and loss that haunts so many of us, and our attempts to wear a brave face, to keep the darkness at bay. She uses plainspoken language and populates her tales with recognizable characters, details, and emotions, with a car radio often supplying the soundtrack. I was totally impressed, and can't wait to read more of her work.

I pulled this off my shelf to dig up a passage that I wanted to e-mail to a friend, and ended up rereading the whole thing. Within a page each story transports me to a place, floating unseen right next to the main character, not reading a story but witnessing a piece out of some people's lives. Some of my favorite stories here play variations on the theme of one of life's most dizzying universals: the times when someone who you thought was going to be walking beside you the rest of your life goes away, and even if you might eventually see them again it'll never be the same between you. Kids watch parents disappear into mental breakdown. A divorced mom packs her kids up for an impromptu road trip to try (for a little while)to outrun the fact that dad is off somewhere making a new life with somebody else. An alcoholic, estranged dad witnesses one night in the long friendship of two women as he digests the knowledge that his young daughter isn't ready to come see him just yet. Two inseparable adolescent girls' friendship vaporizes in an all-too-common way. McCafferty's compassion is palpable, her eye for detail unerring. And I'd be saying all this even if I'd never met and spent time with the author over a very happy summer nearly 20 years ago. Publication couldn't happen to a nicer person...

This is one of the best books i have ever read. These collection of Ms. McCafferty's short stories is spectatcular.