Sweat: Stories and a Novella
Lucy Jane Bledsoe
ISBN 10: 1878067648 / ISBN 13: 9781878067647
Published by Seal Press, 1995
Bibliographic Details
Title: Sweat: Stories and a Novella
Publisher: Seal Press
Publication Date: 1995
Binding: Paperback
Book Condition: Very Good
Signed: Signed by Author(s)
About this title
Synopsis:
Book by Lucy Jane Bledsoe
From Publishers Weekly:
In an outstanding novella and (with a couple of exceptions) rich and satisfying stories, Bledsoe shows herself to be a smart and savvy writer. All of these
stories are about lesbians, and many are about sports. In the sweet "State of Grace" the narrator recalls her youthful first love, a softball teammate, and
compares falling in love to making a great play. A woman takes a "Solo" trip and mourns her often cantankerous and now dead mountaineering partner;
and, in the title story, a high-school gym teacher contemplates taking a college job to please her more money-conscious lover and plays a late-night game
of one-on-one with a student. The excellent novella, "The Place Before Language," follows a woman who has just been dumped by her girlfriend of 10
years for another woman and is working as a park ranger for the summer. In this tender work, Bledsoe perfectly evokes the healing power of the outdoors
and the fishbowl atmosphere of such a workplace. Occasionally, Bledsoe loses her footing, as when an older lesbian enlightens "two adorable young
things" who disparage her generation in "Sex Is an Ancient Practice," or when a lesbian includes her corporate boss in a kiss-out in "The Rescue." Both of
these are brief and seem more like settings for a few funny lines and obvious points than for telling stories. They are, however, the exceptions in this fine
collection.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
