June 17, 2019
In this 18-story career retrospective, Gloss (The Jump-Off Creek) explores life, death, and loss with varying levels of success. Among the most notable works are “Wenonah’s Gift,” in which a young woman’s rite of passage requires a dangerous foray into untamed wilderness to hunt familiar prey; “The Presley Brothers,” an account of twin musical legends Elvis and Jesse Presley, who in some other life shared fame, fortune, and a bond unimpeded by death; and “The Everlasting Humming of the Earth,” the tale of a woman feeling the tremors of the Earth in her body like a heartbeat. Otherwise exceptional entries are undercut by sluggish prose (“Eating Ashes”); abrupt, unsatisfying endings (“The Grinnell Methods”); or the inclusion of slurs that, while arguably realistic, distract from the story (“Unforeseen”). Gloss specializes in subtle literary fiction, more concerned with deep human perspective than suspense or action; even when stories are set in the distant past or the nebulous technological future, most have one foot firmly planted in the natural world, and it can be hard to find the plot under all the details of flora and fauna. This collection will appeal to fans of character-driven fiction in pastoral, Western settings.