Listening for Ghosts

In this skillful if uneven collection from playwright and novelist Rabe (Hurlyburly), characters contend with their pasts amid uneasy situations. The strong opener, “Things We Worried About When I Was Ten,” follows two young boys in their efforts to avoid bullying or getting caught peeping on the neighbors. An explosive scene involves a woman losing her thumb in a meat grinder. In “The Longer Grief,” a recent widower and his sister deal with their feelings over their father’s new marriage. Absurdist situations feature in two of the weaker stories. There’s “Uncle Jim Called,” in which a man gets a phone call from his two dead uncles; and “Suffocation Theory,” in which a man is surprised by the possibility that his partner could be having an affair. The best entry is the novella “I Have to Tell You,” about Emma Skayhill, an octogenarian who in her loneliness feels detached from the world. During an unexpected hospital stay, Emma witnesses the abuse of her roommate by a nurse and is troubled by the subsequent investigation. Rabe’s characters all suffer uneasy torments, and his keen ear for how people talk, think, and behave makes these stories resonate. Not everything works, but there’s plenty here to earn the price of admission. Agent: Deborah Schneider, Gelfman Schneider. (Oct.)