cover image Safety of Objects

Safety of Objects

A. M. Homes. Vintage Books USA, $11 (173pp) ISBN 978-0-679-73629-5

In these 10 stories of unstable suburbanites, a couple experiments with crack cocaine while their sons are away, a man loses self-definition upon finding his office unexpectedly closed, and a teenager becomes erotically attached to a demanding Barbie doll. ``Though occasionally given to straining for shocking effect, Homes has here demonstrated a quirky and original flair,'' said PW. (Nov.)