Distortions

DISTORTIONS is a collection of 19 short stories, many of which previously appeared in print, mostly in The New Yorker. The author's list of characters is diverse: a lifeguard who wants to "introspect," a suburban couple and a spaceman, a wife who stops talking to her husband but gets up in the middle of the night to mail letters to him. These people, so different on the surface, all lead lives distorted by dreams, devoid of passion, imagination and vitality. Ann Beattie's style--clipped, cool and concise--gives us cameo portraits of her characters, freezing them in time and space, accentuating the emptiness of their lives.