Watching Oksana and Other Stories

The short story collection Watching Oksana and Other Stories features disparate voices, most of them speaking from the late 20th century. The opening group of stories, "What You Do for Love," is linked thematically, all of its protagonists in uniquely intense yet familiar parent/child relationships. "American Snapshot, 1993," is a stand-alone story in a more experimental vein that takes an oblique look at race. The four stories in the "Laura" section that follows feature the same...
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The short story collection Watching Oksana and Other Stories features disparate voices, most of them speaking from the late 20th century. The opening group of stories, "What You Do for Love," is linked thematically, all of its protagonists in uniquely intense yet familiar parent/child relationships. "American Snapshot, 1993," is a stand-alone story in a more experimental vein that takes an oblique look at race. The four stories in the "Laura" section that follows feature the same character at different points in her life, the last story Laura's dreamlike experience of the death of her mother. The collection's final story is "Swimming," whose main character's desperate wish for a child leaves her emotionally numbed at the loss of her husband.