Family: Stories from the Interior (review)

Book Reviews 197 Geri Giebel Chavis, ed., Family: Stories from the Interior. Saint Paul, Minn.: Graywolf Press, 1987. xv + 328 pp. $9.50. This anthology of twenty-five contemporary American short stories "filled with the drama of family living" (p. xiv) is divided into six sections, each with its own short introduction: "Husbands and Wives"; "Mothers and Daughters"; "Fathers and Daughters"; "Fathers and Sons"; "Mothers and Sons"; and "Siblings." The first section indudes five short stories; all the others have four. For the most part, the fictions fit well the categories in which they are placed. The categorical emphasis on dyadic relationships may sound overly simplistic to those who work with complex family systems, but it is the nature of the short story to focus on only a few chararters and one major conflict. The editor's statement of the two basic themes of the stories in the collection—"ambivalence and the ebb and flow of merging and separateness that characterize family relationships" (p. xiv)—belies any oversimplifying intent on her part. The stories here are by twenty-four different authors, seventeen women, seven men; most white, a few black. That so many women authors are represented makes one wonder if family relations are a more important theme in the works of women than in those of men. As is the case in many thematic anthologies, the stories vary considerably in their quality and power. Some are excellent and hang in the mind long after they have been read. Others, less good, fade quickly. Perhaps Chavis had to be concerned about costs of permissions as well as theme and, thus, chose stories from relatively obscure authors as well as from better known ones. Authors range from the well respected, such as Sherwood Anderson, Gwendolyn Brooks, Willa Cather, Colette, Flannery O'Connor, and John Updike, to the unknown , such as Dale Eunson, Libbi Miriam, Cynthia Rich, Janet Beeler Shaw (the only author to have two stories in the collection), and Elaine Marcus Starkman. Quality of story does not always correspond with reputation of the author, however. According to Chavis, this "is an ideal text for thematically organized literature courses on the college and advanced high school levels and for courses in psychology, family therapy, family life education, and women's studies. Moreover, this collection is an excellent resource for mental health professionals who work with families and family-related problems and who wish to share the therapeutic reading with their clients" (p. xiv). To her list of potential users, I would add Family Medicine practitioners, faculty, and residents. Having for several years co-led (with a clinical psychologist) elective seminars in 'Tamily Medicine and Literature," I was delighted to find at last an anthology that seemed designed for our purpose of using literature 198 BOOK REVIEWS to explore family dynamics. For our group, short stories are the preferred genre, not for their intense focus on dyadic relationships, but simply because they are short: busy practitioners, faculty, and residents have trouble finding time to read longer works. My only quibble with the stories collected here is that many seem too obvious, with too much spelled out explidtiy. They require little in the way of sophistication or interpretive skills on the part of the reader. (Phrased positively, in the currently popular jargon, these stories are "readily accessible " to a variety of readers.) The stories' straightforwardness may bother only more literary readers, for despite my misgivings, these stories have test-taught well on the outings I have given them. Even stories I thought were too obvious to be of much interest evoked rich discussion. The collection seems to serve its purpose very well indeed. In addition to the stories, the book has a useful bibliography of selected readings—some fiction, some nonfirtion—about family relationships. I recommend this anthology to anyone looking for literature about families. It would be a good beginning work for a reading group devoted to family, espedally a group interested in family dynamics or family therapy. The emphasis in all these stories is on "the interior"—the psychology of the chararters. Readers looking for action-filled adventures should look elsewhere . —Anne Hudson Jones University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston...