"Yesterday's Weather," by Anne Enright

Dublin writer Anne Enright’s 2007 novel, “The Gathering,” is sad but beautifully written; I was not surprised when it was awarded the Mann Booker Prize. I have just read her following book, a collection of short stories titled “Yesterday’s Weather” (Grove Press, 2008); it is a compilation of stories published between 1990 and 2008. Enright has the gift of surprising readers with unique situations and characters, yet providing us with that shock of recognition that connects us somehow to the variations of the human condition displayed by these characters. Almost every story has a twist, not in a gimmicky O. Henry way, but in a way that defies prediction. Enright seems to be speaking of herself and her writing when she has one of her characters (Cathy, in the story “(She Owns) Every Thing”) say, “She loved corners, surprises, changes of light.” Enright gives us eccentric, disaffected, unhappy, resigned, unfaithful characters, along with just a few contented characters. She is an astute observer of human nature, and seems especially interested in characters who are a little different, offbeat in some way, yet she makes us understand these people rather than be put off by them. Her writing is precise, witty, sometimes spare, sometimes generous with details and explanations. There are 31 stories, so it is hard to make generalizations about them, but I can say that most of them are about relationships, especially between spouses and between lovers. There is much about marriage, adultery, and sex. The sex is talked about but not generally described. She also seems to be interested in social class, although without making a point of it; she often portrays people in the middle and lower-middle classes. These stories are both stimulating and thought-provoking, each one with its surprising and satisfying tale unfolding in a very few pages, each one eliciting from the reader a little outtake of breath of surprise yet recognition. It is collections such as this one that have recently made me a renewed reader of, and admirer of, short stories.