Whistling: And Other Stories - Softcover

If certain story collections resemble novels without connective tissue, this debut volume (parts of which appeared in Ploughshares and the Massachusetts Review) reads like autobiography torn apart and reconstructed by a sharp, active wit. Here are 11 spare, even minimalist, stories that depict the neurotic though loving childhood, wild and formative college years, and edgy emotional coming-of-age of a college professor now in her early 50s. In ``Whistling,'' ``Issues and Answers,'' ``After One,'' and ``Marrying,'' Goldberg sketches the wry contemporary romantic scene this teacher and her intellectually sophisticated friends inhabit, comprised largely of dinner parties, shared wisecracks, visits to psychiatrists, and ironic, often reluctant couplings. In ``Sylvia and Wendy,'' where two awkward Jewish coeds at a swanky girls' college in the early 60's make friends and then clash, and in ``Emily,'' in which a bright Brahmin girl finds her life derailing as she nears 50, the protagonists' background deepens; their mothers tend to be gifted but passive and spoiled, their fathers remote, their brothers favored--all of which causes the women to grow up ambitious and defensive, with a barbed presentation. In ``Gifts'' and ``Blue Spruce,'' childhood is explored directly, through discussions with a mother and a brother about family myths. Finally, in ``Hair,'' snippets of biting dialogue reveal the special fears of another group of friends, all of whom have (or overcame) distorted self-images. Cool, brittle, but interesting vignettes containing echoes of Grace Paley's warmer, more full-bodied world. -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

These evocative contemporary tales look keenly at damaged relationships, yet some contain enough hope to close on notes of affirmation. Goldberg uses irony and ambiguity effectively, especially in the several instances when one narrative encapsulates another. In "Whistling," Laura tells the story of her free-spirited friends Pru and John to exact a commitment from her ambivalent lover. The narrator of "Story" invents the characters of Marilyn and Marvin, who are tentatively forming a relationship, but they appear also to exist in her actual life. Some tales are truly moving. In "Country Music," a woman on the verge of a promising career is shattered when she inadvertently causes a young black boy's death. "Gifts" brings gentle warmth to the familar subject of a devoted, self-effacing mother and her guilt-ridden daughter. Goldberg sets her stories, many of which originally appeared in Ploughshares and other literary reviews, against an earthy New York City backdrop with a strong Jewish flavor. She has captured some unique voices with wit, insight and compassion.
Copyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.