Director of the World and Other Stories

Winner of the 1992 Drue Heinz Prize, McCafferty presents 11 powerful, melancholic stories whose theme is deterioration--of relationships and of the mind. Her weary characters usually feel abandoned, at least figuratively, by their families, but rather than effecting change or making decisions, they simply reflect on the cumulative experiences that led to their present ennui. In the disturbing title story (also included in Best American Short Stories 1991 ), a child witnesses the division of her family after her father returns, psychologically ruined, from a war. The particularly wrenching ``By the Light of Friendship'' shows a lonely man nervously awaiting his 14-year-old daughter at the bus station, only to be told she has decided not to visit him. In ``The Shadders Go Away,'' a mother taking her young sons on vacation feels overwhelmed by their unresponsiveness even as she acts jovial and hopeful. Reading McCafferty's collection, one feels empathy for characters trapped by circumstance and inertia; rather than disdain them, we share the poignancy of their experiences. (Dec.)