Read this collection--it was an Editor's Choice in the New York Times Book Review and San Francisco Chronicle review said "reving up Willa Cather's lesbian undertones with Denis Jonson's plains rowdiness...tales of wild but not wild-eyed women". Booklist said "darkly comic and unsentimental, these stories offer quiet rarely seen views of Midwesterners"--and it's TRUE. In one story we are in the hospital with a tired farmer Mr. Hellerman, who is asking existential questions -- his view on the world is so beautiful and refreshing. What I found so satisfying about these stories, mostly set in rural Minnesota though a few gems set in San Francisco (Mother and The Fifth Season), was the richness of the characters. I was completely engrossed while reading and emotionally moved. In one story a girl in rural Minnesota in the 1970s collects cow bones and falls in love with a farm girl...I've never seen a story like this, that dealt with girls longing for other girls in a rural environment and kept every character rich and alive...the writing does justice to rural people and city people. WE NEED MORE STORIES LIKE THESE.
