Alfred DePew

This is a lively and extremely well-written book of short stories by a talented writer. Here's an example of the quality of writing: "I like to think nusic does the same thing as tension or sorrow. I mean, clings to the hair, so that it gets carried out of the concert hall and released into the air again when a woman turns her head suddenly and sees a pheasant in the park. Though it rises silently, it's still usic and remains in the air a long time, years after it's been played, moves way show more out beyond our hearing, keeps traveling through time." This is from the story "Blind" about a luthier who makes cellos and his wife who is a cellist-turned-massage-therapist. Tensions arises when the luthier becomes jealous of his wife's new best friend, a depressed gay hairdressed. My favorite story was "La Casita," about a painter who is a professor at a Northeastern liberal art college who has a longtime friendship with a rich collector in Santa Fe, where the painter goes to paint every year. It is a witty, wry piece of fiction about art, aging, and relationships that delves deeply into its themes. show less