The Nature of Longing: Stories

These eight marvelously wrought stories by 1993 Flannery O'Connor Award winner Alyce Miller span gender, race and culture to present portraits of human beings attempting to belong. The opening story, "Tommy," is a delicate yet deeply expressed tale of a young black man and his mother, who could not come to terms with his homosexuality. It is also about Marsha and Calvin, his betrayal of her, and the lessons she learned. Early in "Tommy" the theme of this and the following stories emerges, it is our common need to be a part of another: "There are people who remain connected to us throughout our lives, who seem to follow a similar trajectory, more often through accident than design." "Off Season Travel" finds two couples, each feeling cut off, isolated; they come together in a Mexican resort town. A searing recreation of the 1967 Detroit riots is background for "Summer in Detroit." Thoughtful, provocative, disturbing, precisely penned are the stories of Alyce Miller.

Washington Post Book World "Miller .. [has a] talent for portraying adolescent moodiness and interracial confusion .... nicely subtle ... marvelously Southern in temperament ... What Miller brings to her narratives of black culture is unique, not because the characters are extraordinary, but because she makes them so particular. Whatever our own experience, we recognize and understand them. Her characters are richly complicated and intriguing, and her language lively and fresh." New York Times Book Review "Alyce Miller's collection of stories explores the nature of longing, conditioned by absence, loss, disappointment, and difference. Impressive ... with traditional narrative techniques and lyrical language, THE NATURE OF LONGING convincingly presents a variety of complex characters, all of whom yearn for what they lack - and in that lack define their common humanity."Denver Post "This collection of 8 short stories won the Flannery O'Connor Award for Short Fiction this year. It's a perfect selection. Miller crafts her characters with simple strokes that reveal much. It's easy to get so caught up in these people that it comes as a surprise when the stories stop ... If you have some experience in living, what happens to them has happened to you, too, in some way. We'll be looking for more of Miller."