Loved this book. Has totally made me obsessed with short stories. ( )

What a great collection - the last was the most moving, Blessed Assurance. I liked how some of the characters overlapped from previous stories. Only one in this collection I just wasn't able to get through, the rest were all excellent in their own way. A blend of Flannery O'Connor with John Cheever. ( )

In the short story 'Art History', an elderly former teacher takes two young boys to stay in a hotel and signs them in as his grandsons. One of them later reports that he was sexually abused. ( )

I had no expectations of this novel. It was suggested to me by a friend who is usually trustworthy. So when I started reading, I was just heart-wrenchingly captured by the first chapter, a description of the family dynamic between a WW2 era father and his two sons. By page 17 I was so enamoured of the characters...so imagine my surprise when Chapter 2 was a completely different narrative of a different family.

This book appears to be a series of essays...perhaps an ethnographic review of the lives of white people, most of the stories coming from the southern United States.

A quaint enough idea and yet there is so much missing. One of the essays "Nativity: Caucasian" describes a birth at an upstanding stereotypical bridge tournament, with wealthy southern US women reflecting their "white women" identity.

As I am sure many different cultural groups feel when a work is meant to portray their ethnic beliefs, I found this horribly shallow. I wished that the essays covered a more diverse range of personality. Or perhaps the diversity within the "white culture" and why not discuss racial issues that are foundational in the white experience? For instance, if we are going to talk about southern white folk, we had just as well talk about how the white southern identity is built around the systematic oppression and forced migration of the entire continent of Africa, and how the culture of oppression has defined white culture in the south.

I would be lying if I said that my review of this book is not affected by my own ethnicity, or the fact that I live in Canada and have a difficult time identifying with the southern white experience. And Gurganus does write lovely prose (which is why he gets my 3-1/2 stars). I guess I am just rubbed the wrong way by the title.

This book is good for
1) people interested in narrative studies of ethnic groups
2) people interested in reading short essays before bed
3) those experiencing sexuality conflicts, especially men
4) individuals questioning identity

I would not recommend this novel for, say, someone from another cultural group wanting to learn more about "white people." Maybe the title should be Southern Entitled Whiners. ( )

how the hell do i read this online?