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Show SaTftOBRsliEaS and not quite epiphanies, either of which would be easier to process. They start too late in the action for an establishing shot," finish before the expected end, and that disorientation becomes seductive. The plots are often a maze that ends abruptly, and when the conversation finishes, her characters remain strangers, which makes it easier to like and accept them. In the title story, a moth- -' er must rise above her dashed expectations and accept a son when her daughter decides to have a A BLIND MAN CAN SEE HOW MUCH I LOVE YOU By Amy Bloom fUndoM Homm, $22.95 0375502688 ISSN REVIEW BY DEANNA LARSON Amy Bloom faces off with taboo topics in her short stories, those unwanted subjects rarely overheard on the bus or at a party. A transgendcred child, a stillbirth, a son's indiscretion with his stepmother pose benign and mysterious in her opening paragraphs. And no matter how long a veteran of Bloom's stories (her previous collections are Love Invents Us and Come to Me), the reader still arrives late for the movie, stumbles into his seat in the dark and looks up to find characters and activity about which he knows absolutely nothing. Her stories are not quite snapshots j operation. Night Vision is about a man who sleeps with his stepmother the day after his fathers funeral, and lives with this intimate knowledge for decades until he can face her again. Stars at Elbow and Foot" is one of the most enigmatic stories in the book. TaHaRalaLBLBEaR ing of her son, only to learn that the case is considered a slam dunk by a district MOVE TO STRIKE By attorney who easily establishes her client's means, motive, and opportunity. Nina finds herself trying to picture the crime based on the widely divergent accounts offered by an array of suspects. Her adolescent client does not help with a series of misguided attempts to mislead the police and withhold vital information. Nina turns to a former lover and private detective, Paul Van Wagoner, to help piece together the conflicting details surrounding the sensational case. Like Nina, Paul brings his own problems: his agency is about to fold; he never fully recovered from his earlier affair w ith Nina and he cturies a deadly secret that could end their relationship forever. There is no shortage of suspects: the Petri OShaughnessy DeUcorta, $23.95 tS8N 0385332777 rrcnn $24.95, issn X5674090i6 REVIEW BY JOHN MESSER A single mother trying to raise a forteenage son; a past affair she cannot get; a resolute belief injustice despite the death of her husband and the threats issued by his killer. These are the elements that have defined Lake Tahoe lawyer Nina Reillys life in the earlier bestselling legal thrillers written by sisters Pamela and Mary O'Shaughncssy under their common pen name. Pern O'Shaughncssy. These terms also dominate their latest work. Move to Strike, in which Reilly struggles to prove the innocence of a girl accused of murdering her wealthy uncle, a prominent Lake Tahoe plastic surgeon. Reilly is drawn into the case at the urg HBiaOBTalaOtN BEAUTIFUL WASPS HAVING SEX A Hollywood Novel By Don Carter W9fa ISBN Mornm, $24 0688174647 REVIEW BY PAT H. BROESKE To tourists who gamely trek down Hollywood Boulevard, avoiding panhandlers as they gaze at legendary names inscribed on bronze stars embed- ded in the sidewalk, Hollywood is an actual destination. But to those who work in the movie industry or aspire to do so Holly wood is an enigmatic state of mind, one that authors love to explore and expose. So what makes Hollywood run? In her debut novel, the terrifically titled Beautiful WASPs Having Sex. Dori Carter offers up her philosophy. Written from an insider's perspec- live Carter is a screenwriter, as well as creator and execu the wife of j j j j j j tive producer Chris Carter Beautiful WASPs is about an industry in which the players themselves are facades. For instance, struggling screenwriter Frankie Jordan wants to forget that she was ever Francine Fingerman. As Frankie wryly notes, "Francine Fingerman was bom to be the president of Hadassah. Francine Fingerman wasn't a Hollywood writer. It may have been Jews who built Hollywood, but it was also Jews who perpetuated the myths enshrined in the movies including the myth of the gorgeous, seemingly carefree WASP. It is so enticing an image that even the industry's Jewish players want to be taken for Gentiles. Focusing on the struggle to survive, in a business known for failure. Beautiful WASPs is largely a series of After a woman's baby is stillborn, she slips into a deep depression until she volunteers to work with disabled children at a local hospital. On the first day, she impulsively decides to adopt the most repulsive and disliked child, against her husbands wishes. The story ends with her planning for a wheelchair ramp and buying medical equipment. There are no clues as to what might happen when the child and the husband encounter each other. Bloom, a practicing psychotherapist. might be e as expected to a storyteller. Instead, she uses metaphors with an almost arrogant certainty, and has the confidence to leave so much silence in her stories that the reader himself can render that space claustrophobic, READERS GUIDE i General Interest over-analy- Deanna Larson writes from Nashville. mother of a teenage patient who died on the surgeons operating table and has sworn vengeance; a local burglar observed at the scene; a bearded foreigner seen arguing with the victim shortly before the murder, Nina's client, a juvenile delinquent who was seen at the crime scene and acknowledges an intent to rob the victim; and, finally, the client's mother, a ditsy. aspiring actress whose car was spotted at the scene of the crime. OShaughnessy 's solution to this vexing puzzle comes as a sudden and violent surprise proving that the Irish sisters have not lost their touch for providing suspenseful, entertaining reading. Sf John Messer writes from Ludington, BUSINESS Despite all the lip service paid to diversity in the workplace, most women, African Americans, Asian Americans, Latinos, gays, disabled people, and older workers are still struggling to overcome the barrier of difference blocking their careers. Based on extensive research and firsthand interviews, FROM THE OUTSIDE IN explains proven strategies to advance careers how to break past assumptions of hostility, muster support, accentuate the positive, and buy in without selling out Amacom $17.95 Michigan. Hollywood moments. There's the scene in which a writer and her agent do" lunch; the writer's meeting with producers who just love!" her script (but nonetheless offer a string of suggestions); the eventual destruction of what was once a thoughtful script; and the incessant efforts to climb, climb, climb. Of course, what goes up will eventually come down or at the very least, fade away. As Frankie muses, while cleaning out her RoUxlex, Only in Holly wixxl tan you redo your phone list, throw out your friends, and never miss them." But then, us Beautiful WASPs reminds us, there really is no business as telling as show business, V Pat . Broeske is a veteran Hollywood journalist. AUGUST CHILDREN'S THE GIGGLER TREATMENT is a delightfully rude, laugh-out-lou- d adventure by the author of A Star Called Henry. A talking dog, the Mack children, and the e small Gigglers must try to stop the prank the Gigglers have mistakenly set in motion to punish Mr. Mack for being mean to his kids. elf-lik- Scholastic $14.95 |