Measuring

Ann Tracy is a master of intersection. Her new collection, Measuring and Other Stories, reads with the fluidity and familiarity of memoir, the succinctness of short story, the coherence of novel. The authorial voice itself is as if Robertson Davies meets the Marx Brothers but they are all staunch feminists. In each gem of a story she takes an extended metaphor (e.g., "Measuring") and polishes it till it sparkles with wit, wisdom, and poignancy. I began to list favorite passages to quote and gave up when the document was three pages long. Pressed to name a favorite in this array, I would have to say that it's impossible. I want to read every one of them over and over. And over.



Jan Maher, author of The Persistence of Memory and Other Stories