The critic Jackson Benson noted that Malamud often concerned himself with the Old Testament questions: "Why should we be good, when there is no reward for goodness? How can we have faith when there are no signs to confirm our faith? How can we love, if our love is met only with scorn or violence?"
But the reader doesn't have to seek out meanings in these stories. The power of Malamud's style, the essential humanity of these wonderful if sometimes woebegone characters, makes for a reading experience that will prove powerful and essential in understanding why Malamud must be placed among the greats of a century soon to expire.
* * *
Joan Connor teaches creative writing at Ohio University in Athens, where I was a part-time instructor in journalism for almost a decade. Connor, who's from Vermont, depends on her native territory in her brilliant new collection, Here on Old Route 7, (Missouri, trade paperback).
The stories emit atmosphere and a feeling of place, while creating characters that would seem just as home Down South as in the mountains of Vermont. The reader doesn't need to have been around these settings to get the impression that Connor knows well about what she writes.
The first story, "Old Route 7," contains seven segments, with different characters giving their points of view to the plot. It's an effective device, covering a lot of territory in the 45 pages Connor gives to the tale.
The eight other stories range in tone from humor to dark explorations of the human heart. Connor's wit can elicit guffaws from a reader eagerly turning pages. By the end, the reader feels sadness that the book isn't longer.
Here on Old Route 7 is wonderful, and worth searching out at your neighborhood book store.
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