*

*

*

*.

THANKSGIVING FEAST

Garden Of Good And Evil

Real people populate author Amy Bloom -3)- short stories
in 'A Blind Man Can See How Much I Love Mu."

S

rories, like dreams, are brief
excursions into another world.
If we're lucky both afford us a
chance to see more clearly the nature
of our being and the character of
our souls. If we're twice lucky they
haunt us — in the same way that
memory haunts and heals us after
the twin ordeals of love and loss.
That's a heady introduction to a
book review, but anything less
would not do justice to A Blind

The most moving story in the col-
lection, however, would have to be
"Stars at Elbow and Foot." The nar-
rator in this piece has lost her baby

COMPLETE DINNERS, FABULOUS
SIDES AND LUSCIOUS DESSERTS

vs

N1(\/
CI
YOUR TURKEY
THE
DAY BEFORE
HMSO
Ai\

ROBERT DEL VALLE
Special to the Jewish News

Man Can See How much I Love You
(Random House; $22.95), a collec-
tion of stories by Amy Bloom.
A trained psychOtherapist with sev-
eral critically acclaimed works behind
her, Bloom offers up eight pieces that
examine the frailty and strength of
life itself These are epiphanies —
stories that reveal much more than
cause and effect — and their collec-
tive force is not unlike the ironic
spectacle of raindrops hammering a
mountain into submission.
In place of the clinical coldness
that has characterized the work of
other writers with a similar back-
ground, Bloom gives us the gamut
of emotions.
In the titular story, a single moth-
er shepherds her daughter through
the process of a sex-change opera-
tion. Their relationShip, as close as
that between any parent and child,
is magnified until the reader sees
something more in the works, some-
thing not unlike the destruction and
rebirth of a single entity that had
hitherto existed under a different
name.
In the complementing stories
"Night Vision" and "Light into
Dark," a dance of anger and, guilt
ensues between a black man and the
white stepmother he slept with years
before. Here the unspoken becomes
the language of the heart and the clo-
sure sought so desperately by both is
as elusive as the past itself

TURKEY
DINNERS!
WHOLE GOURMET TURKEYS

4(

.

Thanksgiving
161. • • •

P$
•FA% oo r m,
AT MAPLE

* * *

Excalibur Presents

Thanksgiving Dinner

Pick-up a complete dinner for 6 to 8 people for '125"

per package + tax

Author Amy Bloom: Stories that
"mirror the human condition as
profoundly as myth."

in childbirth and surrenders almost
unconditionally to despair — that
is, until she meets her match in an
armless little boy equally poisoned
by a reluctance to love or hope.
These scenarios would seem outra-
geous in bland summary — in fact,
they do — but through the talent of
Bloom's gift they mirror the human
condition as profoundly as myth.
Together with the remaining four
stories they comprise an unflinching
examination of the way the truth
pains us and forces us to accept.
Befitting her surname, the author has
created a garden and beckons us in.

The Jewish Book Group at
Borders in Farmington Hills,
30995 Orchard Lake Road, dis-
cusses An-iy Bloom's A Blind Man
Can See How Much I Love You 7:30
p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 21. The public
is welcome. (248) 737-0110.

MIMMIAIMOMMOMIVAI,

Turkey, Traditional Stuffing, Butter Whipped
Potatoes, Sweet Potatoes, Gravy,
Cranberry Relish, Fresh Buttered Green Beans,
Mixed Organic Greens, Rolls and Flat Bread,
Pumpkin Pie & Apple Pie.
Pre-Paid Pick-up Between 8 a.m. & 1 p.m.

ORDER NOW
(248) 358-3355

Restaurant Open Thanksgiving Day
2 p.m. to 10 p.m.
Serving our Dinner Menu & Thanksgiving Specials

28875 Franklin Rd. • On the corner of 12 Mile & Northwestern Hwy.

of Auburn is

Now Featuring Sunday Brunch

From 11am - 3pm
Auburn Hills Location Only
•
Reservations Suggested

248-373-4440

200(

95