cover image MacAuley's Thumb

MacAuley's Thumb

Lex Williford. University of Iowa Press, $20 (0pp) ISBN 978-0-87745-443-4

Williford's principal subject matter is more than common today in short fiction: the marital wreck, done in by adultery and confronting alienation. In this collection of 10 stories, winner of the 1993 Iowa Short Fiction Award, redneck deer-hunters (``A Discussion of Property'') and moonlighting yuppies (``Influenza'') face a void of values, and it's anyone's guess whether an uptight chiropractor can find healing communion with a brassy Wal-Mart clerk (``Godzilla vs. the Sensitive Man''). Is redemption possible? There is no flash or gimmickry--neither cute ironies nor concealed facts--in Williford's stories, which seem intended to pose a meaningful ambiguity, or at best to summon a grain or two of forlorn hope from the muddy alchemy of relationships. The emotionally stoic conclusion of ``Taking Nonie Home'' is characteristic: ``He stood and walked into the waves, then bent to wash the clay from his knees and the ash from his hands. When he came back, he said, `Liz, we need to talk.' She picked up the urn. `I'm ready,' she said.'' (Jan.)