Last Words

In this impressive collection of short stories from Graham (The Vestibule of Hell), the characters%E2%80%94children, drunks, intellectuals%E2%80%94all tend to be bookish and introspective. Their worlds are all threatened by some looming disaster, named or unnamed. The book begins with a suspenseful and moving story that introduces John Last, a Canadian holed up in a Paris hotel. Breaking into his misanthropic existence, a brash American CIA operative named Howard recruits him to help thwart a terrorist attack, with surprising results. Several stories are told from the point of view of Henry, a child growing up in post-war Toronto surrounded by melancholy, vaguely incomprehensible adults; Death is the man who rents the attic room. In another tale, Elmira Rawlinson strikes up a romance with a boy named Tom in order to escape her abusive family, but the violence in her past has seeped into her and become inescapable. All of these stories have a dark tone, but they also contain an underlying current of gentle humor and empathy for their damaged characters. Graham's writing is rich and to be savored slowly. Readers are in for a great pleasure. (Nov. 2015)