Review A wry, crackly voice...Fine, funny, and very moving pictures of contemporary life [from] a writer of enormous talent.-- "New York Times"Astonishing...Moore is so good at trapping each moment in perfect, precise detail, so masterful at cynicism and wryness that her moments of poignancy and sweetness catch us completely off guard.-- "San Francisco Chronicle"Brisk, ironic...Scalpel-sharp...A funny, cohesive, and moving collection of stories.-- "New York Times Book Review"Sharp, flicking, on-target...The work of a sorcerer's apprentice. Moore casts a cruel, mischievous spell.-- "Vanity Fair"Trenchant, funny tales...Moore is much more than another chronicler of the chronically out-of-sync relations between American men and women. She writes with urgency and pace.-- "People" Product Description In these tales of loss and pleasure, lovers and family, a woman learns to conduct an affair, a child of divorce dances with her mother, and a woman with a terminal illness contemplates her exit. Filled with the sharp humor, emotional acuity, and joyful language Moore has become famous for, these nine glittering tales marked the introduction of an extravagantly gifted writer. About the Author Lorrie Moore is the author of the story collections Birds of America, Like Life, and Self-Help and the novels Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? and Anagrams. Her work has won honors from the Lannan Foundation and the American Academy of Arts and Letters, as well as the Irish Times International Prize for Fiction, the Rea Award for the Short Story, and the PEN/Malamud Award. She is the Gertrude Conaway Vanderbilt Professor of English at Vanderbilt University.