Unbelievably bleak but riveting Doctorow here relates short stories of heart ache and pain. The title is ironic in that the stories are anything but sweet.

I've long been a fan of Doctorow's. I remember reading Ragtime almost 25 years ago when the movie came out (wow, was I really that young when I read it?!?). So, it was a treat to read this new collection of his short stories. It's a slim volume, only five stories. But of the five, two have already won awards for best short fiction and two have been included in best of anthologies (according to the blurb on the cover). This doesn't surprise me as they're uniformly well written with well drawn characters--one of the things I think is hardest to accomplish in the short story format--realistic dialogue, and heavy themes. They're not light, easy reads. Bad, bad things happen, there are evil people in the stories, and there are people who simply suffer the evil done to them and persevere.

Of the stories, I think "Jolene: A Life" and "Child, Dead, in the Rose Garden" will stay with me the longest. The first because it's the story of a young woman who suffers much and still retains a glimmer of hope in her life, and the second because it says so much about the abuse of power in the highest political circles.

If you're already a fan of either Doctorow or the short story format, I strongly recommend this book. If you've never read Doctorow, this would be a good place to start. My favorite of his books is World's Fair, and this one hasn't usurped its place in my affections, but it is a great example of his work. ( )