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Show mm ST0 RI E8r i cota. IwJc the book. I I V i The result is a thoroughly satisfying blend. sxr.e- what like a mixture of Wyoming Stories Flamers OConnor and Cocmae By Annie Proulx SlcCa--hs Scribner, S25 Making a living in Prtxilx's 6 86S4SS2217 Smm I Sdaster Ma. 525. 671 Wyoming is a tough undertaking Cori'ider Diamond Felts, a hapless hoi! REVIEW BY JAMES GR1NNEU nder on the rodeo circuit in The Mad With the puhiieaUon of Close Range: Bek' " Ars cber character tells mm. Wyoming Stories. A'ir.:-You rrdeo. you're a Pn hi x has fx-c-i roe an nx-te- r on Tuesdas. a authentic western writer feather duster on 7-lSS. C Pre-" uaJaimed fix Wednesday r,cr three ..c!'. Tt failures cause him to conS;' PPO'.i S; S. P' clude of life in general tha: Ci.rJ. and At to "it w as ail a hard, tao nde C r,mt i. a"d tir't sti-rthat ended in the mud." s sit.iinn. fton Fbouixs women are jIv I.' mm' her d alvi stoic and '.ght- - n a fresh although ibe sxne-time- s -- often their condiuneci the s"ta(.ed New We'i tion with fatalistic humor C U a nes reji-I- s Thee i In the maneious "A ter., pus a fagmer... Gu't." the b.iks Lre!v ' 55 Sides to 'he Ga .n narraon.) f:r't-per- s Pump), arc extra xJ mars Ties occur tive. a grxip ot female friends surfer t. in the !onel. austerely from and put up w uh more spousal beautiful high plains of Wyoming To aberrations than they might if thee lived this realistic verting Proulx add' humor, elsewhere and had more options. But. a large dose of empathy and elements the narrator wtIv acknowledges, of the gothic and fantastic as in the theres something wrong with everyalready celebrated opening story "The body and its up to sou to know what CLOSE RANGE t Vo. iSV d Steer. which John I pdike has included in The Best American Short Stones of the Century i Proulx also has written the first cowboy store I know of that is overtly homosexual, the O Flenrv A ard-- inning Brokeback Mountain." which sou can handle. Wyoming is our ninth largest state but has the fewest people. Proulxs narrator explains that if sou dont lise here sou cant think how lonesome it gets. James Cnnneli Ine in Deialb. Illinois THE SEVENTH CHILD is a heartwarming account of one remarkable womans life part personal history, part social history, and all wonderful wisdom that spans three generations of an and African-America- n family, is told in an unforgettable voice. Freddie Mae Baxter ts a modem-daeveryworran whose s'.ory wi3 resonate for readers of every stripe. y K'kas Alfred A. Knopf Robert Draper has made an exciting debut. Larry McMurtty. author of The Last Picture Shosi and Duane's Depressed HADRIANS WALLS is a great, smart read set in a world few readers ever encounter . . . from the dark sloughs of East Texas to the burning corrupt cells of the Texas prison system, from the oys of a childhood friendship to the adult complexities. James Crumley, author of Bordersnakes As senous as it is entertaining, HADRIANS WALLS is a literary gem as well as a thriller." Lee Smith, author of B lack Mmmiam Breakdown and Oral History Alfred A. Knopf 2- - $3. IM.s t Sc' Reres 1 VERA (MRS. VLADIMIR NABOKOV) Portrait of a Marriage By Stacy Schiff Random House, $27.95 0744783 inter-view- ISSM REVIEW BY ELIZA ILL MCCRAW Anvorc who has read ladimir novel Lo.tu has probably NaV-kov- s ha: wondered Mn atvkov theucht about her literary pre.ccu-paao- r. with pedophil.a Sti-Schiff writes that Vera Nabokov wava.tuaily responsible for Lina. in -e respect at least 'he saed the manuscript from me fre in; whuh Nabokov was determined tothr'wit Schiff writes that L i:a survival iv testimony to Vera's ability u a' her husband had it keep gnm common ' . sense from the door, shoot it dead when it approached. She feared that the memory of the unfinished work would haunt him forever This episode characterizes the Nabokovs marriage, which Schiff explores and explicates in Vera (Mrs. Vladimir Nabokov ). Their lives were entwined to the point that even Nabokovs authorship was not entirely his own SchiiT s biography follows this inex- - NQNF1 CT10N CLEAVING The Story of a Marriage By Dennis and Vicki Covington North Point Press, $22 ISW 086547542 REVIEW BY ROSALIND S. FOURNIER In the 21 years they've been husband w it'e. Dennis and Vicki Cov ington have been through plenty alcoholism, depression, infertility You could say theirs has not been a story btxd marriage. Dennis is a jiximalist and author of the IW5 National Book Award finalist Sahaiton on Sand Mountain. Vickt is the and author of four novels, including The Lat Hold for Women. In Cleaving: The Story of a Marriage, alternating between her point of view and his. the Covingtons expose many dark elements of their marriage. including myriad infidelities. Cleaving is more, though, than a story of men and women behaving badly With the inclusion of insightful details, the Cov ingtons put human faces I met him to their dalliancesin parking lots mostly. Vicki writes of one man with whom she had an affair. I'd get in his car. Sometimes he'd have starched white shirts from the cleaner's hanging in the back seat, and they mesmerized me. I didn't know a man other than my dad who wore things like this." - 12 MAY tncabihty even in its subtitle: Portrait of a Marriage. Thickly footnoted, illustrated with a wide variety of photographs. and written with an eye toward Nabokov's writing as well as his wife. Schiff's book paints a comprehensive picture of one of literatures more s complex couples. She employs with their son. grocery lists, diaries, and correspondence in her work to illustrate the extent of the Nabokovs' impact on one another. Their inseparability was not merely romantic: as Schiff writes. The man who spoke so often of his own isolation was one of the most accompanied loners of all time." Schiff notes that the Nabokovs' unique marriage did provide some confusion: It was no wonder that Vera appeared to have some trouble discerning where she ended and her husband began "I avk you to bear in mind that we have a poor mind for legal expressions.' she contended. Ultimately, however. Schiff's depiction reveals an unrivaled intertwining of personalities. As she writes of Nabokov. For many years he had been a national treasure in search of a nation: Vera was a little bit the country in which he lived." . . Eliza McCraw is a graduate student in Nashville, Tennessee. The Covingtons include stories that have little to do with their marriage which, ironically, are some of the most interesting. In graduate school Dennis took a class from author Raymond Carver, and the two used to meet for drinks. As a child. Vicki w as afraid of the dark, people who wore glasses, and accidentally shouting obscenities in church. The Covingtons also write at length about spirituality their dedication to their Baptist church on Birmingham's Southside, and even a dalliance with the fundamentalist congregations Dennis wrote about in Salvation on Sand Mountain. Dennis has worked as a journalist in Central America and instigates .- missions with Vicki, their two daughters, and member' of their chureh to drill wells in impoverished areas of El Salv ador. Through their faith and missionary work, the couple searches for meaning and redemption in their complicated lives. Some will be offended by the Covingtons' behavior; some might find them maddeningly unapologetic. Yet Cleaving, unfailingly honest, will strike a chord w uh anyone who's ever marveled that no matter how imperfect and mismanaged, life and. in their case, marriage does go on. Rosalind S. Fournier is managing editor 0 Birmingham magazine. 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