Sweat: Stories and a Novella

In an outstanding novella and (with a couple of exceptions) rich and satisfying stories, Bledsoe shows herself to be a smart and savvy writer. All of these stories are about lesbians, and many are about sports. In the sweet ``State of Grace'' the narrator recalls her youthful first love, a softball teammate, and compares falling in love to making a great play. A woman takes a ``Solo'' trip and mourns her often cantankerous and now dead mountaineering partner; and, in the title story, a high-school gym teacher contemplates taking a college job to please her more money-conscious lover and plays a late-night game of one-on-one with a student. The excellent novella, ``The Place Before Language,'' follows a woman who has just been dumped by her girlfriend of 10 years for another woman and is working as a park ranger for the summer. In this tender work, Bledsoe perfectly evokes the healing power of the outdoors and the fishbowl atmosphere of such a workplace. Occasionally, Bledsoe loses her footing, as when an older lesbian enlightens ``two adorable young things'' who disparage her generation in ``Sex Is an Ancient Practice,'' or when a lesbian includes her corporate boss in a kiss-out in ``The Rescue.'' Both of these are brief and seem more like settings for a few funny lines and obvious points than for telling stories. They are, however, the exceptions in this fine collection. (Sept.)