All the Way Home: Stories and Novella

Sex, infidelity, divorce and death come under Clark's gimlet eye in his latest collection of short stories (after Jackdog Summer). In ""Advance Creek,"" Margot, a teen, is raped by a hunter while on a fishing trip with her father; the sense of evil intent Clark elicits is terrifying. Unexpectedly, Clark returns to Margot when she is 20 years older in ""Two-Tone Blue,"" which finds her walking out on her dope-smoking husband, bitter but still able to console her heartbroken sister. The dynamic between the sexes powers many of Clark's stories, of which ""The Sprawl of Things,"" a bawdy, must-read sexfest, is the most lighthearted. Set during the sleepy 1950s, this tale of seduction among the Eisenhower-era college crowd ends in an amusing, bittersweet twist. ""Only Children"" introduces a married couple, Larry and April, just out of college, who find the occasion of JFK's assassination an unlikely opportunity for forgiveness and new understanding. Larry is also the central figure of the novella ""All the Way Home,"" in which he helps a friend escape the dementia of Alzheimer's by assisting in his suicide. Like the best of Clark's stories, this tale surges with genuine emotion. Even in its frank portrayal of madness and death, it is witty and sexy and, like Clark's characters, who go on despite enormous tragedy, somehow still life-affirming. (Apr.)