Rachel M. (arachel) reviewed on + 23 more book reviews
From Library Journal
The women of these 12 related stories are almost indistinguishable: emotionally fragile, addictive, divorced, exiled, and desperately turning 40. They inhabit a millennial Los Angeles that ranges from the swimming pools and gardens of Beverly Hills in the title story and "Over the Hill" to the anonymous apartments in "Naming Names" and "Temporary Light." They attend AA meetings, reminisce with friends, raise children alone, face biopsies and extinction, and attract men like the fast-talking drug dealer of "Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta." To their stories Braverman brings an elegiac, autumnal vision touched by the absurd. Her most telling revelations occur "in these clairvoyant ruins where we live between improvisations, consecrating the moments with our prayers and lies." A powerful, moving collection that evokes the work of Joan Didion. The author has published Palm Lati tudes (LJ 6/1/88) and Lithium for Medea (1979), as well as poetry collections.
-Mary Soete, San Diego P.L.
The women of these 12 related stories are almost indistinguishable: emotionally fragile, addictive, divorced, exiled, and desperately turning 40. They inhabit a millennial Los Angeles that ranges from the swimming pools and gardens of Beverly Hills in the title story and "Over the Hill" to the anonymous apartments in "Naming Names" and "Temporary Light." They attend AA meetings, reminisce with friends, raise children alone, face biopsies and extinction, and attract men like the fast-talking drug dealer of "Tall Tales from the Mekong Delta." To their stories Braverman brings an elegiac, autumnal vision touched by the absurd. Her most telling revelations occur "in these clairvoyant ruins where we live between improvisations, consecrating the moments with our prayers and lies." A powerful, moving collection that evokes the work of Joan Didion. The author has published Palm Lati tudes (LJ 6/1/88) and Lithium for Medea (1979), as well as poetry collections.
-Mary Soete, San Diego P.L.
