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Where the God of Love Hangs Out

3.48 of 5 stars 3.48 · rating details · 1,735 ratings · 382 reviews

Love, in its many forms and complexities, weaves through this collection by Amy Bloom, the New York Times bestselling author of Away. Bloom's astonishing and astute new work of interconnected stories illuminates the mysteries of passion, family, and friendship.

Propelled by Bloom's dazzling prose, unmistakable voice, and generous wit, Where the God of Love Hangs Out takes u...more

Hardcover, 201 pages

Published January 12th 2010 by Random House (first published December 8th 2009)

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Jan 02, 2013 Charlotte added it

Disappointing, because her first collection of stories was so stunning and original. A bookjacket-reviewer said something like, "She packs more into a single sentence than most writers put into an entire novel." I wholeheartedly agree, even here, with this odd collection of forced and stale material. Read one sentence and you're sucked right into another world. Depite its shortcomings, Bloom continues to be a wonderful writer here, who is still exploring surprising subjects with an unflinching a...more

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Jul 19, 2012 Abby rated it 4 of 5 stars

I haven't read either of Amy Bloom's two previous collections of short stories but I loved “Away,” her first novel, and jumped at the chance to see what she would do next. As it turns out, three of the four stories in one of the two linked sets in “Where the God of Love Hangs Out” are reprinted from the earlier books. Bloom first wrote about the Sampsons from Julia's perspective, revisited them in stories narrated years later by her step-son and son and looks in once more in the current collecti...more

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Aug 02, 2011 Claire rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed

http://www.tkreviews.org/#/where-the-...

In American culture, the various kinds of human love—romantic or familial for instance—come with socially acceptable norms and responsibilities. The ultimate customary expression of romantic love is marriage between two well-matched people. In a conventional demonstration of familial love, children are expected to care for their elderly parents. But what happens when two old friends who are married to other people realize that they are soul mates? Or when...more http://www.tkreviews.org/#/where-the-...

In American culture, the various kinds of human love—romantic or familial for instance—come with socially acceptable norms and responsibilities. The ultimate customary expression of romantic love is marriage between two well-matched people. In a conventional demonstration of familial love, children are expected to care for their elderly parents. But what happens when two old friends who are married to other people realize that they are soul mates? Or when a daughter struggles with her sense of duty to care for her elderly father who verbally and emotionally abused her as a child?

In Where the Love of God Hangs Out (Random House, $15.00), Amy Bloom explores that darker, more complicated side of love. The short story collection features two sets of linked stories and four that stand on their own. Amy Bloom is at her best in the short story form, and this book showcases her considerable talents to reveal the highs and the lows, the joys and sorrows of human relationships.

The first four linked stories are about Clare and William, old friends who realize they’re willing to risk everything—including their marriages and the disapproval of their adult children—to be together. Even from the very first line of the first story as they watch CNN on the couch after their respective spouses have gone to bed early (“At two o’clock in the morning, no one is to blame”), their adulterous affair is presented in a compassionate light. Bloom explores mature love here—the type of love in the second half of life, when passion in marriage has faded, and companionate and deep connection becomes more powerful than finding a partner based on sexual attraction or societal status.

Bloom masterfully presents Clare and William as complex characters (she is described as having a “squinty, unyielding nature,” while he is a large English man with “beautiful manners”), and describes the affinity between them with sparkling passages. Even the act of sharing a peach becomes an example of the sensual, comfortable, and even pathetic nature of their relationship: “Claire twists the nectarine sharply, and it falls into halves, each one a brilliant, glazed yellow with a prickled hot-pink center. The pit falls into her lap. They eat their halves and watch each other eat, and they drip, just a little on the quilt.” When they give in to their feelings and divorce their spouses, the conclusion seems to be that perhaps love can conquer all—all misgivings, all sense of moral behavior, and even mortality (when William dies, Claire keeps a routine that makes his memory very much alive for her).

In the best of the stand alone stories, “Between Here and Here,” Bloom shows she can be funny when the subject matter is tough—a young boy reacts to his father’s emotional and verbal abuse by “[drawing] cartoon weather maps of my father’s feelings: dark clouds of I Hate You, giving way to the sleet of Who Are You, pierced by bolts of Black Rage.” In this story, when the young boy’s sister is with their father for the last days of his life many years later, Bloom examines if filial duty can overcome a strong sense of hate.

The second linked quartet of stories begin with a shocking premise and another mismatched couple: a white widow named Julia whose husband, a famous black jazz musician has just died, sleeps with her nineteen year old stepson the day after his father’s funeral. Soon after, Lionel, the stepson, moves to Paris, and Julia is wracked with guilt about the event, acknowledging to herself that she may have ruined his life. She hopes distance will be best for her son: “When I was a lifeguard at camp, they taught us how to save panicky swimmers. The swimmers don’t realize they have to let you save them, that their terror will drown you both, and so sometimes, they taught us, you have to knock the person out to bring him in to shore.” A combination of motherly love, romantic passion and tough love are at work in Julia’s response to her actions and subsequent behavior.

A peach also appears in the second set of stories, when Lionel teaches his brother how to please a woman: “Buster gave himself to the peach until there was nothing but exhausted peach skin and bits of yellow fruit clinging to his face.” But besides the similarity between the two sets of linked stories in that they are about unlikely couples and involve a peach, they differ in that the Julia and Lionel stories aren’t as focused as Clare and William’s and there are too many characters in the former (Lionel has a number of wives and girlfriends) to get a real sense of the motivations and fleshed out sense of those women.

That said, Bloom's background in social work and psychotherapy allows her to write with honest and fascinating insight into her characters thoughts and feelings. Her characters are flawed, yet they are sympathetic and likeable—and that combination makes each story captivating and engaging, without being overly sentimental or cliché. Like Jhumpa Lahiri, she is a master of the short story form—and just as Unaccustomed Earth was a masterful follow-up to The Namesake—Bloom’s Where the God of Love Hangs Out is a welcome return to short stories after Away, her novel.

As someone once said, “We do not choose love, love chooses us.” The stories in this collection depict the unlikely occasions where love can transform two—by society’s standards—oddly matched people.(less)

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May 25, 2011 Carol Ryan rated it 4 of 5 stars

There is something I like about the length of a short story or a chapter. If it is just right it entertains and enlightens for just the right duration. Sometimes a good short story involves such interesting characters or plot, that a novel is desired. Amy Bloom's book,
"Where the God of Love Hangs Out", consists of four sets of stories of characters followed over time, or from different perspectives. It's a good compromise between a novel and a book of unrelated short stories, especially for tho...more

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Feb 14, 2010 christa rated it 4 of 5 stars

DISCLAIMER
I'm not much on short stories, and I'll admit that I'm using a generalization here, but so many of them are too something. Like contrived edginess for the sake of being edgy. Like a tribal tattoo on the small of your back, but you don't know what the symbol means. And other times they just don't feel satisfying. They require the same level of commitment as dating someone who is moving in a week: Enough time for a fling to create the illusion that he doesn't crap, but not enough time to...more DISCLAIMER
I'm not much on short stories, and I'll admit that I'm using a generalization here, but so many of them are too something. Like contrived edginess for the sake of being edgy. Like a tribal tattoo on the small of your back, but you don't know what the symbol means. And other times they just don't feel satisfying. They require the same level of commitment as dating someone who is moving in a week: Enough time for a fling to create the illusion that he doesn't crap, but not enough time to learn his favorite flavor of Doritos.

SO WHY READ THIS ONE?
A friend tweeted something about it. What she tweeted, I don't remember. But it was enough to pique my interest, so I picked it up the next time I went book shopping.

AND?
This knocked my socks off.

WHAT'S IN IT?
Bloom's collection includes two sets of serial short stories that are linked, which I like because it was like this weird middle ground between short story and novel. Almost novellas. So gets to see the stories through to their heartbreaking conclusions. Again, again, again, and again. In the first, William and Clare are BFFs, but married to other people, a foursome that spends a lot of time together. A little bumbly fumbly while watching CNN turns into a full fledged fling, and eventually marriage. In the other, Julia and her stepson turn go all hot pants on each other while mourning the death of Julia's husband, Lionel's dad. This one emotional, drunken decision has three more stories worth of ramifications.

WHAT'S SO BIG ABOUT IT
The characters. The chronically ill William has a foot that Clare believes looks like a turnip. The moment where Lionel first appears in Julia's doorway, his briefs hanging off his "high skinny hips," and you know, you KNOW what's going to happen if these two aren't careful. And, they aren't. In "Between Here and There," Bloom creates this fantastic scene where an asshole-of-a-father (the kind of guy who, when his son comes out to him, says "A fat fag? Not much fun in that") seemingly makes a personality turnaround. Bloom writes it in a way that makes the new personality seem so fragile, like it could shift back to the old way if the wind blew. Also, there is this great moment in the title story where a man who is in love with a waitress goes to an out of the way bar and runs into his daughter-in-law. They have this conversation about the life she's had, and he in turn, unsolicited, tells her of a homosexual experience -- well, three years worth, actually -- that he had for money in college. "If not for him, I would have had to drop out of college."

CONCLUSION
Damn, she's good. (less)

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Jan 20, 2010 Jacqie rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amy Bloom is a master of characterization. Her characters are unique, flawed, fascinating people. I'm sure I'd enjoy hanging out with them. She is also great at describing the undertones of love, both positive and negative. From a woman waking in the night next to her husband, finding herself weeping and crying the name of her lover (these people are in their late 50's) to the reluctance of a widow to enter her house, knowing that she will see her dead husband inside after not being able to cont...more

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Jul 26, 2012 rachel rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: from-library, 2012

"We were never lovers. We just had sex," she says. But it is not what she believes. They were lovers just as ugly babies are still babies."

As it turns out, Amy Bloom describes this book of Amy Bloom's in the best way possible. Or at least, it is the best way to describe the two major stories, more like novellas, each told in four acts. In the first story of the "William and Claire" sequence, two married, middle-aged platonic teacher friends -- she a bit neurotic and he morbidly obese -- start fo...more "We were never lovers. We just had sex," she says. But it is not what she believes. They were lovers just as ugly babies are still babies."

As it turns out, Amy Bloom describes this book of Amy Bloom's in the best way possible. Or at least, it is the best way to describe the two major stories, more like novellas, each told in four acts. In the first story of the "William and Claire" sequence, two married, middle-aged platonic teacher friends -- she a bit neurotic and he morbidly obese -- start fooling around one night while watching the evening news. From there, they embark on an affair that never ends. Both of them have beautiful spouses but are still drawn to each other past reason. The following three stories describe their relationship's evolution over time, especially as regards his deteriorating health. It's sweet. Insofar as infidelity can ever be sweet, I guess.

The second major story sequence, "Lionel and Julia," is the origin of the quote that opens this review. It's about a young stepmother who loses her famous musician husband and then sleeps with her 19 year old stepson in a moment of very poor judgment. The first story in the sequence is expertly drawn, as you start to get a little sense that there's a little more than motherly intimacy in the way Julia comforts Lion over his father's death, the way he cries against her leg. And he looks her in the eye when she accidentally sees him naked in the shower and you know that this is heading for a bad place (she threw him birthday parties when he was in eighth grade! Gross!) and then it gets there. And the rest of the stories discuss the fallout.

The common thread of both of these story sequences is what it is like to grow old with the vastly imperfect person you love, the paths that the history of your love will take whether or not you are together -- suggesting that by your love you are always linked. This strong narrative connection between the two stories is why the four standalones, which each take on a different type of love -- love (or lack of it) for parents, love for those we are in service to, love of the memory of those who have died young -- can seem a little disjointed. I could have read more relationship sequences, even if the people were both beautiful and, y'know, not related. Thematically they didn't have to be the same!

I am an Amy Bloom fan, I think.(less)

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May 02, 2010 Dawn rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: short-story-collections, literary-fiction

I'm not usually a fan of sets of short stories that feature the same characters, and this slim collection features two of these sets. The first set concerns Clare and William, who are both married to what seem like perfect spouses, and yet Clare and William are drawn to each other. Fans of Olive Kitteridge will enjoy this linked set of stories featuring characters who are not exactly in the prime of life. Unlike with Olive, I wasn't really interested in any of these characters and especially cou...more

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Mar 20, 2011 Michelle rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011

I didn’t intend to read two collections of linked short stories back to back but am glad I did. I was feeling that perhaps I was unduly harsh on my prior review (You Know When the Men are Gone) but this confirmed it for me. The stories in this collection are on an entirely different level. This book is essentially divided into two parts, the first with stories about one couple and the second covering another couple, with the occasional one-off stories thrown in. Amy Bloom’s writing is superb and...more

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Jun 27, 2011 Lili rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Katia

Shelves: from-the-library

The writing is as clear and as simple as I remember it from A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You: Stories, which I read about ten years ago. The stories seem a little longer in page length, but read very quickly.

The collection is structured around two quartets of interlocking stories, each treating the different phases of a love relationship. Personally, my favorites in the collection were the stories outside of those two cycles. I felt like I ran out of interest in the protagonist/antagonist...more

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Apr 09, 2010 Vanessa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-in-2010

More like 4.5 stars. This is easily the best book I've read this year, maybe the best book I've read in a while. This is the kind of book you buy even though you have read the library's copy because you want to keep it close to you. There are a handful of stand-alone stories and two sets of four stories that follow a group of people over time; one set (William and Clare) is about an adulterous couple and one (Lionel and Julia) is about a stepmother and her adoptive family. The second set had a s...more

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Mar 01, 2010 Alex Roberts rated it 4 of 5 stars

An extraordinary, compassionate collection of stories. Laced with a romantic spirit yet anything but soft. In these tales, Love- as it will do- insists on sacrifice, regrets and compromise, and will occasionally concede a small dose of comfort or satisfaction here and there to prolong the game. Two quartets of internally linked tales steal the thunder here. The first follows a late in life change of partners within a circle of friends in academe. Tender and mature, this initial series sets a ref...more

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Jul 28, 2011 Erika rated it 3 of 5 stars

While I can't ever fault Bloom's line by line writing (it's the very definition of masterful), this collection fell somewhat flat for me. It felt as though there were two novellas contained within the book--not interrelated short stories, but novellas. While there's a bit of a lack of market for novellas at the moment, I felt it was a disservice to the stories themselves to have them sandwiched together in the same book. The two independent pieces certainly read the strongest for me, as they fel...more

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Jul 25, 2011 Larry Hoffer added it

Amy Bloom is one of my favorite authors. Some of her short stories—in Love Invents Us, Come to Me and A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You—are among the best I've ever read. And her latest story collection, Where the God of Love Hangs Out, is a worthy addition to this list.

There are two sets of interrelated stories in this collection and some unrelated ones. The first set chronicles William and Clare, lifelong friends who, unbeknownst to their spouses, are falling in love with each other late...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Bookmarks Magazine rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mar-apr-2010

Bloom's background in psychology gives her amazing insight into the human psyche, which she uses to full advantage in these lovely, mesmerizing stories, written with sympathy and wisdom. The critics seemed genuinely surprised that there could be any uncharted territory in the world of love, but Bloom adeptly maps the human heart without sentimentality or cliché. They lavished praise on her deeply affecting prose and "uncommonly fully formed" characters (New York Times), admiring her use of indiv...more

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Feb 08, 2010 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars

Amy Bloom is one of my favorite short story authors - I prefer her short stories and was not a fan of her novel, "Away." I was particularly excited for this new collection of stories. The excitement was slightly lessened when I started reading, only to discover that four of the stories had previously been published in previous collections of Ms. Bloom's. Bummer. Had I purchased this instead of getting it from the library, I'd have been pretty annoyed.

That said, the series of stories about Willi...more

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May 19, 2012 Julia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-before-2012

For years, I included volumes of short stories in my reading lists and still own several, collected against that day when I run out of things to read or the library is unavailable. The reality is that I have moved away from reading short stories. I do continue to (try to) write them occasionally and understand the undeniable creativity and craft that goes into a good one. Most recently, I have more enjoyed really long novels that I can live with and in for weeks at a time, something the best sho...more

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Jan 21, 2011 Nancy rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: memorable, favorites

This book of short stories exemplifies the notion of bitter-sweet. I'm not sure why, but I've always avoided reading short stories. This book may convert me. Amy Bloom's stories are unified by recurring characters and each story offers new insight into a few characters, offering continuity to the collection.

I was drawn to this author when I heard her speak earlier in the month. She was very witty, very wise and touched the audience in a rather personal way. Quite a gift. The book is far from wit...more

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Jul 11, 2011 Alison rated it 3 of 5 stars

I've been told that this isn't Amy Bloom's best collection of short stories, and I certainly wasn't swept away by it. There were some gems. Specifically I liked some of the Julia and Lionel stories, like Sleepwalking. I enjoyed how the author explored the complicated relationship between Julia and her stepson, and I liked the follow up stories that gave us a window into their later years.

I also thought Bye and Bye was interesting, more for how it was written than the actual story itself probabl...more

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Jan 24, 2010 Kaley rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 25-in-2010

Amy Bloom's characters are flawed. They make mistakes; they use poor judgement; they are not beautiful or young or without fault. In other words, they are real. And her ability to introduce us to them with complete lack of judgement is a gift. Ms. Bloom worked for some time as a psychotherapist before devoting herself to writing, and she weds these two experiences in a way that offers us a unique and honest glimpse into the psyches of her characters. The result is captivating. I read somewhere t...more

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Jul 02, 2011 Cathy rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

i'm really enoying this book which reminds me of ann tyler books, dinner at the homesick diner, accidental tourist, etc.

the characters in these short stories drift through life with dialogue that makes one laugh out loud. Clare and William both married to other people talk about their families. william's daughter emily has made a bad choice and wm says, "i'd rather she'd taken the veil. . ."

wm describes his divorce attorney and is "sure that most of her life, this woman had been stalking and kil...more i'm really enoying this book which reminds me of ann tyler books, dinner at the homesick diner, accidental tourist, etc.

the characters in these short stories drift through life with dialogue that makes one laugh out loud. Clare and William both married to other people talk about their families. william's daughter emily has made a bad choice and wm says, "i'd rather she'd taken the veil. . ."

wm describes his divorce attorney and is "sure that most of her life, this woman had been stalking and killing wild game in stilleto heels." pg43

isabel, wm's wife describes a man she can't stand saying, "...he's dumb in that awful preppy way and a republican and if he says no disrespect intended one more time i'm going to set him on fire." pg 48

Clare describes wm as always being beautifully dressed. "...he dressed the way the duke of windsor would have if he'd been a hundred pounds heavier and not such a weenie..." pg50

in between here and here the daughter thinks that her dispicable father will die before her mother. "i hoped my father woldn't dawdle in shuffling off this mortal coil." of course he doesn't die but her mother does and daughter and son face caring for a man they both despise.

the daughter thinking of the father she hates "what i wanted was to have come out of her womb armed to my little baby lips and killed him with my super powers before the cord was cut."

finally, after her mother's been dead for a while the daughter says to her father. "we try to be nice (to you) which isn't easy because you are an emotional black hole and the coldest, most self-centered sonofabithch i have ever known, .... so, if you can't be civil, why don't you just shut the fuck up?" at which point the father leaves the room with a piece of cheese and eats it in the living room.

the daughter calls the brother and tells him he "might not want to miss the second coming of alvin lowald, in which our father had been snatched by pod people who sent us a nice old man who thanked me and called me a good kid."

i knew what was coming in sleepwalking after lionel died and 19yr old junior and step ma got it on. step-ma's mother in law rolled her eyes after hearing the lord's name taken in vain. "I felt like smacking her one, right in her soft dark face, and pointing out that since the lord had not treated us especially well in the last year, during which we had both lost husband, perhaps we didn't have to be overly concerned hith his hurt feelings."

when buster's wife complained to julia about being accused of not understanding the black condition julia responds . .. white mothers of black children were screwed whichever way they went: white trash or in denial or so supportive, they're punch lines for black and white people, filling their shopping carts with Rastafariean lip balm.... Someone's got to be the mammy, she said... unfortunately, it's our turn."

this last story winds thru their lives as they age and take on new lovers. one wonders if lionel has been terribly damaged or would have turned out the way he did anyway. when step ma finally dies it's touching and brought tears to my eyes.(less)

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Jan 17, 2010 Alecia rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amy Bloom is an amazing writer. I was uncertain as to rate it 4 or 5 stars and I'm still not sure. I generally shy away from short stories, as I love to be fully engaged by a novel. The exception to this was Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout. But I believe Strout's stories were all connected somehow. These stories were only connected by the theme of (I guess) love. I remember really enjoying Bloom's previous novel, Away.

Some of the stories in this book were abolutely exquisite, and brought te...more

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Mar 04, 2010 Jennifer rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010

I had seen this book on the Goodreads giveaway page awhile back, and although I entered, I am so glad I did not win the giveaway. Thank goodness this is a library book I can take back!
The book was told in several small stories which I was not expecting. I was a bit thrown by the format because some chapters were related and there was a break in the book to let the reader know a new story was starting. However some chapters that followed were not a continuation of the preceding chapter so it thre...more

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Feb 22, 2010 Emily rated it 4 of 5 stars

I was hesitant jumping into my second Amy Bloom book. I wasn't in love with her novel "Away", though I believe short stories are her strength and since that is the format of her newest book, I decided to give her another chance. I'm glad I did. Her writing is very poignant and touching, yet with a dash of humor to bring you back to some sort of reality. By the second story, I realized that this colleciton of stories all centered around death. How we mourn, how we die, how we survive, etc. I was...more

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Jun 05, 2011 Wavelength rated it 4 of 5 stars

Amy Bloom moves beyond socially acceptable "love stories," and instead explores the darker and less talked about nuances of love and relationships. Two middle aged friends, married to other people decide to risk everything and marry each other. A step-mother and her step-son are drawn together in shared grief; the repercussions affect the rest of their lives, a man contemplates "for better or for worse." "Everyone who gets married feels betrayed. The other person will let you down, son - they ca...more

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Feb 28, 2010 Jodi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2010-read, shortstories

I remember breathlessly telling my twelve-year-old niece, Jaycie, that if Amy Bloom’s name were on the cover of a phone book I’d read it and enjoy every line. I’m a bit of a Bloom fan, and still remember buying her first novel Love Invents Us in hardcover at the B. Dalton in the Eden Prairie Mall just because I liked the title.

After reading Where the God of Love Hangs Out her newest short story collection that affirmation is truer than ever.

What I like so much about Bloom’s writing is that she p...more

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Sep 15, 2012 Anna Penner rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book was another one picked up in my slow alphabetical travels through our library's shelves.

This book is also another one picked up mainly for its title. And it is a great title.

The content is also pretty fantastic, a series of stories-- some connected-- all with the shared theme of love and relationships. Like any book of short stories there were some that were better than others, but the good definitely outnumbered the not-so-good.

"Between Here and Here" is, probably, my favourite-- a si...more

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Aug 28, 2010 Diane rated it 4 of 5 stars

Although I usually don't care for short story collections, I love how Amy Bloom wove two series of stories together into a kind of novella form in this book. Something very satisfying about reading the arc of lives and relationships in that format, kind of like watching a long thorough movie trailer that saves you from having to watch the whole movie. Characters were splendid - slightly off center from what I think of as the mainstream, and therefore mostly more interesting. She reminds me a bit...more

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Jun 19, 2012 Andy Miller rated it 3 of 5 stars

A collection of interesting but not great short stories by Amy Bloom. The highlight were two series of stories. The first set was about two married couples whose marriages eventually end when two of characters fall in love with each other. The stories take place at different times, often years apart and each story shifts in the perspective of the teller. The second set follows the same format, the first story centers around the death of a jazz musician and its effect on his wife, his son from a...more

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Jun 03, 2011 Cate rated it 5 of 5 stars

Lovely writing about love in the last half of life. Most of these characters have been married and raised their children; now we see their lives and loves as they learn to see their children as adults, as they face divorce, death, disappointment. The book has several different narratives--it's not quite a novel, and not quite a series of short stories. Each section has several distinction sub-sections, but it's not clear if those are chapters or interlinked stories. The sections are themselves d...more

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About Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom is the author of "Come to Me," a National Book Award finalist; "A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love You," nominated for the National Book Critics Circle Award; "Love Invents Us"; and "Normal." Her stories have appeared in Best American Short Stories, O. Henry Prize Short Stories, The Scribner Anthology of Contemporary Short Fiction, and many other anthologies here and abroad. She has wri...more

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“And why is Saint Paula a Saint? She dumps her four kids at a convent. She runs off to Hajira with Saint Jerome. How is that a saint?
You’ve got shitty mothers all over America who would love to dump their kids and travel.” — 1 person liked it

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