OUR STORY BEGINS: NEW AND SELECTED STORIES
By Tobias Wolff
Alfred A. Knopf, 379 pages, $26.95

Reading Our Story Begins, Tobias Wolff’s new collection of stories, is like being buttonholed by a drunk with a glass jaw. At first he’ll strike you as charming, and the fluency of his anecdotes may mislead you into finding him entertaining. But very soon you’ll realize that he only talks—never listens—and that the lone subject of all his talking is his own inadequacy. The answer he’s seeking—that he’s in pain precisely because he’s self-involved, and that all his suffering would end as soon as he stopped talking about it—seems self-evident, but he never quite puts his finger on it. As the evening wears on, and your discomfort becomes visible—as your eyes wander to the door, and you begin checking your watch and rattling the ice in your empty highball glass—the drunk will begin daring you to hit him. “Come on, tough guy!” he’ll bellow. “You think you know pain?” And if, finally, you give in and deck him, he’ll lie on the floor, bleeding triumphantly, and crow that he’s been victimized yet again.  read more »