cover image Let Us Know

Let Us Know

Diane Vreuls. Viking Books, $14.95 (112pp) ISBN 978-0-670-80948-6

The 11 short stories in this collection are a kind of kaleidoscope through which small, often confusing flashes of the human condition are emitted in order to disturb, amuse, provoke. Mystery is the operative ingredient in relationships: a woman's life is documented in crazily shot and mailed photos (""The Alice P. Gamboe Strip''); two landlocked children erect a landfill hill in their backyard (``Estarolly's Mountain''); a chess pen-pal materializes in startling reality (``Meeting You''); and obsessive non-travelers take the reader on an intense journey (``Returns''). For the most part, the rendering is sophisticated and rather arcane. Vreuls is the author of the novel Are We There Yet?. (March 13)