The Whore's Child (original 2002; edition 2003)

All the characters in this short story collection are flawed, complex and richly drawn. I’ve read and loved many of Russo’s novels and his short stories did not disappoint. Most of the stories in this collection were the seeds for the novel Straight Man – a poignant, hilarious and caustic look at life in academia. Russo is a gifted writer and observer of people and their foibles. What I also love about Russo’s stories (short or otherwise) is his refusal to wrap his stories with a neat bow. The endings leave their somewhat deceived and foolish, but always very human characters a little wiser.
The protagonists in these stories are psychically and (in most cases, physically) wounded as they reflect on and respond to the intimacy and alienation they experience with those closest to them – wives, parents, children and friends. Russo’s writing is razor-sharp and he manages to elicit compassion for his characters despite their obvious and often unsympathetic faults. Each compact story recounts an episode in the protagonist’s life (a boy whose mother impulsively leaves her husband and takes her son on a cross-country journey, an older nun-the title story-who mysteriously enrolls in a college creative writing class and a man who seeks out the lover of his now deceased wife). In each story, the protagonist grapples with his understanding of himself and the meaning of his relationships to those closest to him.
Russo is a terrific and incisive writer who uniquely combines poignancy and often heartbreak with sharp humor. He doesn’t spell out his points, but his rich portrayal of his characters allows the reader to gain a deeper understanding of contemporary life. ( )

7 short stories in Russo's well-known voice. Enjoyable, but I prefer his novels. His characters become so real, you want to know more about them, spend more time with them than a short story allows - every one of the stories could be the first chapter of a novel I'd gladly read. The short stories are just too ... short. ( )

I've always loved Russo's style of writing. He has a way of describing people so intimately that you can see them there in front of you, flaws and all. This is my first taste of his short stories and they are exceptionally good. The title story, The Whore's Child, is about a nun's foray into a writing workshop and her attempt at a memoir. It was simple and did exactly what a great short story should do, give you a glimpse at a few characters and leave you wishing you knew just a bit more about them. Russo writes about a young boy's cross-country road trip with his mother, a man struggling to come to terms with the discovery of his wife's lover, a married couple who are haunted by the decisions of their youth and more. I loved the book as a whole and was left wishing for more stories from the author. ( )

“I normally am not interested in Short Stories. These stories, however, we extremely well written and linked together by an underlying current of self-appraisal and self discovery. My favorite stories are "The Whore's Child" about Sister Ursula and her coming to terms with her live through her writing. I found "Boyauncy" very enlightening with respect to a husband's new awareness of his wife and his roll as husband.” ( )

I enjoyed the title story and the last one, "The Mysteries of Linwood Hart", the best. The middle stories were all very similar in tone and setting and even now are beginning to blur together for me. ( )