![]() ![]() I can only end with an echo of the closing words of Patchett’s introduction, “Edith Pearlman has been a secret much too long. ![]() No matter what situation Pearlman weaves, whether it be in the midst of a forbidden love affair presiding over the bed of a beautiful, but comatose child or on a final visit with a dying college roommate, she conveys each life with the astute elegance that distinguishes only the most adept of writers. Her characters, who span the globe from Central America to Israel to London to New England, are crafted with depth, complexity, and humanity. Her plot lines are at the same time courageous and charming. Pearlman is a masterful storyteller. Most of the stories in Binocular Vision are from Pearlmans three previous collections, and were written over a period of forty years. By the time I finished reading the collection I couldn’t identify my favorites either. Patchett’s assessment couldn’t be more accurate. Patchet’s praise, I thought, “I know that these stories are supposed to be wonderful, but how could every story have been a favorite? She’s exaggerating.” “But,” she continues, “by the time I’d finished reading the book, every one of them was checked. Patchett explains that when she sat down to review the collection she thought she would put a check next to each of her favorite stories. The introduction to Binocular Vision, a magnificent collection of short stories by Edith Pearlman, is written by acclaimed novelist Ann Patchett, author of Bel Canto. ![]()
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