Knucklebones: 27 Stories

Thomas, who won the Iowa Fiction Award for her first book, The Phototropic Woman, was awarded the 1994 Willa Cather Fiction Prize for this collection of 27 stories. The pieces describe characters who seem almost lifted from another era, not only because they live in small towns and farming communities (like Thomas, who lives in rural Ohio) but because their beliefs also seem rooted in earlier centuries. Some pieces feature the common protagonists, usually troubled misfits who are confused or unhappy with their lives. From the opening story, ``The Westerer,'' about adolescent Buddy, whose father has left home and whose mother has just died in childbirth, to ``The Aesthetics of Love,'' about Roberta, who refuses to believe that her husband, a concert violinist, has truly abandoned her, this collection is filled with the sadness of people whose lives have been suspended by events beyond their control and comprehension. Most readers will be haunted by the strong characterizations and vivid descriptions; others may be disappointed simply because of the similarity of settings and characters and the consistently bleak tone. (Jan.)