Not: A Trio

This wonderful collection has two stories and a novella which intertwine to tell us the story of Claire McClelland, a psychologist based in Bennington, VT. It's not a very pretty story, and though the first two stories foreshadow the novella, it is done so with the extreme subtlety that only a writer as strong and confident of his world as Huddle could pull off. The first story, titled "Village Tale," is told from the viewpoint of Claire's current lover, Danny Marlow. Danny and Claire have a physical relationship and that is all they have. He arranges for one hour sessions with her at her office and they lock the door and go at it on the office carpet. They rarely speak to each other. They do not even see each other outside the office. Unlike your basic stereotyped female character, it is Claire who insists things are this way. Towards the end of the story, he instigates a conversation between the two of them, similar to those she typically has with patients in her office. Her responses to his questions cement our understanding of her feelings. This story also foreshadows a major event in Claire's life in regards to her second husband, Ben. The second story, "Wherever I am Not," is told from Ben's viewpoint. It involves a phone conversation he has with his ex-wife while Claire sleeps in the bedroom down the hall very early one morning. It is through his conversation with the ex-wife, while learning about their failures, that we learn more details and facts about Claire. The end of the story, though foretold in "Village Tale," still catches the reader off guard, bringing up an emotional response somewhat akin to that you'd expect Claire to have."Not," is the novella at the end of the book. It is told in numerous short lists or paragraphs. Only one or two of these reaches the length of a page, but they each tell incredible amounts about Claire. The essence of this novella is Claire suffering a breakdown of sorts in her office and deciding that her entire life has been a series of incidents where she has convinced herself she was happy. She leaves her life behind and goes into the mountains where she has been willed some property. Her intention is to take the right moment to end her chicanery. The will she or won't she aspect is not nearly as important as the little bits and pieces that Huddle gives us throughout the individual paragraphs, lists and incidents. These include areas of Claire's life we've seen before in the two stories as well as those new to the reader.The only disappointing this about this collection is that it is over so quickly; the book is only 105 pages long. The best thing is that it didn't need to be any longer. In this short period of space, Huddle has given us a fully developed character and others that are nearly fully realized though they're barely mentioned in terms of space and words. He has followed his muse, and delved into an area of domestic question, relationships and absence of feeling, and p