cover image Eccentric Circles

Eccentric Circles

Larry Duberstein. Permanent Press (NY), $24 (191pp) ISBN 978-1-877946-20-2

Drawn from all walks of life, the characters in this engaging collection of 15 stories move in private orbits, occa sionally connecting which occasionally intersect with those of others. In ``Domestic Tranquility,'' a married couple take turns destroying each other's cherished personal belongings in an internecine running feud. In ``Devereaux's Existence,'' a homeless alcoholic, once a journalist, ludicrously acts as his own lawyer when charged as a peeping Tom. Observed with great sympathy and humor, Duberstein's people labor under illusions, as witness the shy salesman who feels liberated when he takes home a New Orleans nude dancer for a $250 tryst, or the Manhattan lawyer who represents and befriends a former high-school classmate charged with assaulting a bag lady. Quietly moving tales of coping with adversity include ``Fishing for Gorillas,'' about a girl's weird dreams when her mother becomes paralyzed, and ``The Off Season,'' in which a gay couple bravely face the terminal illness (cancer and possibly AIDS) of one of them. Whether he is writing about a mortician at the racetrack, a mafioso stuffed in a trunk or a philandering yuppie Boston attorney, Duberstein ( Carnovsky's Retreat ) puts his finger on extraordinary moments in seemingly ordinary lives. (Dec.)