If the Heart Is Lean: Stories

This is an enjoyable collection of mostly dark stories, some of which are rather surreal. My favorite, I think, is “Cake,” in which a woman who works at an insurance agency is trying to break up with her boyfriend, but life is complicated and she can't do it. In fact, many of the women in this collection are in relationships that aren't good for them, but they don't seem to be able to break away. At a conference I heard the author read from “Pedagogy,” which is a terrific, but odd, story about a teacher who doesn't think his students take their education seriously enough. So he boils the meat off his head. That got their attention!