It seems to me that Mavis Gallant must have spent an inordinate amount of time on terraces. As places that seem associated with a view, this seems appropriate for a writer with a penchant for observation and acuity. But even while terraces seem related to looking outward – especially
In other Mavis Gallant stories, we have met characters whose hold on life is more tenacious than expected. In “The Remission” (1979), for instance. Everyone has made plans with an exit in mind, but nothing goes as expected. And in “The End of the World” (1967), we have a
“I saw Maggie about a year ago. She says she’s leaving everything to an arts foundation,” says Maggie’s half-brother, Larry. He’s talking to his father. Who was married, at one time, to Maggie’s mother. Larry’s father remains nameless, the Elder Pugh. Just as he “has no real age”
Imagine a ribbon. Pinch a loop of it between your index finger and thumb. The small piece you grasp is where the story begins and ends, while in between recounting “the year of shocks”. We meet the Clairvoie family when son Luc has failed his course of study. Spectacularly
Khanh Ha’s third novel, Mrs. Rossi’s Dream (The Permanent Press, 2019) is an ideal companion to Flesh (2012) and The Demon Who Peddled Longing (2014). The reader’s guide is Lê Giang: the story begins and ends with him, in 1987, when he is living in a coastal town in the
