The Best Revenge: Short Stories

by Rebecca Rule

In nineteen finely honed, deftly realized short stories, Rebecca Rule crafts with gentle wit and striking clarity a conglomeration of sometimes ragtag but always appealing small-town denizens, each of whom squares off against a nemesis of a singular sort. With an eye for the signature detail, an ear for the rhythms of regional speech, and a strong feel for the nuances of rural culture, Rule maintains a fine balance between humor and pathos that prompted National Book Award winner Thomas Williams to comment, Cold honesty gleams from every careful sentence.

Twice nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Rule captures the essence of small-town New England life as she paints with a sure hand the fallings-out and friendships, the trials and triumphs of the New England microcosm. In Yankee Curse, elderly Miranda knits placidly at a town meeting, pondering an amazing string of unspoken invective against an enemy but stopping short at a curse she would never levy, not even on Mort to live too long. In Minna Runs for Selectman, a middle-aged woman's battlefield is the strange, incestuous politics of this eccentric little town but her real opponent is her own insecurity. In Jim's Boat a young couple wages a silent struggle over priorities in their marriage; in Fishing with George a small girl worries that there's a hole in our family that gets bigger every time her parents argue; and in the title story a mother copes with a hated neighbor through a sculpture that makes her laugh the kind of laugh that doesn't end in a sob. Children and grandmothers, trappers and college professors, lifetime Yankees or transplanted each finds the truth in Rule's observation that revenge takes many forms -- some of which can heal.

208 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 1995

Reviews

[Carolyn Crocker · Rating 4 out of 5]

Rural New Hampshire, for the most part, is the setting for these stories. The families, trappers, widows, children, neighbors, townspeople exercising their civil rights are far from Norman Rockwell quaint, but funny, flinty, sad, bitter, and nearly always, in their understated way, triumphant. The writing, regional idioms, and tone nail it:"Live, Freeze and Die".

[Barrington Library]

Laugh out loud tales of the behind the scenes daily life of old New England folk. You probably know these folks or are one yourself!

Amy - staff

[Christine · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this book of short stories. I read this for book club. I don't think that it is a good book for a discussion group. I look forward to reading more from this author.