Fabulous small jews / Joseph Epstein

How does a writer address issues of disease, divorce, and death without being totally depressing? In these 17 stories, Epstein not only tackles this challenge but succeeds admirably by writing with charm and sensitivity. Epstein's gentle humor often belies his subject matter--moving into a nursing home, for instance, which is explored in "Loss of Words" and "Felix Emeritus." Other stories deal with death and dying ("Love and the Guiness Book of World Records" and "Don Juan Zimmerman"), the dangers of artist worship ("The Third Mrs. Kessler," "Executor," and "Master Ring"), and the sorry consequences of affairs and divorce. Thus, in "Saturday Afternoon at the Zoo with Dad," a father must explain years of absence to his two children, and in "Uncle Jack," a man recounts the effect on his life of his mother's lover. Through these vignettes, a range of universal themes is brought down to earth in a touching and thoughtful way.