Bookverdict.com

The dozen stories in Smith's (How To Be Both) latest collection share a common characteristic: a contagious sense of wordplay, from obscure etymology ("buxom" originally meant "obedient, compliant, gracious") in "Last," to multiple meanings of "fraud" linking D.H. Lawrence to credit card theft in "The Human Claim," to faulting a long-dead author in a failing contemporary marriage in "The Ex-Wife." In between stories, Smith adds interludes from friends and writers who exalt the ...Log In or Sign Up to Read More