Publishers's Weekly Review of Susan Engberg's Above the Houses

Above the Houses: Stories
Susan Engberg. Delphinium, $23.95 (256p) ISBN 978-1-883285-30-2

The nine gorgeously crafted stories of the fourth collection from Engberg
(Sarah's Laughter) go behind closed doors to find everyday desperation. The
title story tracks, in the second person, Sophie, the 59-year-old wife and
mother of two grown sons who is settling into a new university town, having
dutifully, but not willingly, relocated for her husband's new job. The
unbearably poignant "Time's Body" opens on an aged husband's witnessing his
wife's funeral: his numb detachment, surrounded by friends and family, takes
exact measure of his grief. The young woman of "River Hills" must fend off
the importunate solicitude of her older brother in order to fulfill her own
aspirations, while the new bride in "Moon" teeters between devotion to and
estrangement from her new husband, an overworked surgeon in training, and
the hapless new husband of "Fortune" chafes in trying to keep up with his
exacting new wife and twins. Engberg's quiet denouements feel wholly
integral to these tales of quiet desperation. (May)

Link to Ploughshares review comparing Engberg to Grace Paley.

Link to Milwaukee Journal Sentinel review, including interview with Engberg.

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