The Night In Question: Stories

One of the sinuous and subtly crafted stories in Tobias Wolff's new collection--his first in eleven years--begins with a man biting a dog. The fact that Wolff is reversing familiar expectations is only half the point. The other half is that Wolff makes the reversal seem inevitable: the dog has attacked his protagonist's young daughter. And everywhere in The Night in Question, we are reminded that truth is deceptive, volatile, and often the last thing we want to know.

A young reporter writes an obituary only to be fired when its subject walks into his office, very much alive. A soldier in Vietnam goads his lieutenant into sending him on increasingly dangerous missions. An impecunious mother and son go window-shopping for a domesticity that is forever beyond their grasp. Seamless, ironic, dizzying in their emotional aptness, these fifteen stories deliver small, exquisite shocks that leave us feeling invigorated and intensely alive.

Tobias Wolff has earned the deep respect of his many readers for direct, compelling stories marked by honesty and insight. The Night in Question is a collection of fifteen short works tied together by Wolff's upright style and unyielding interest in those moments when moral confusion crystallizes into clear, shining action and understanding. His characters, situations, and themes become familiar over time: children recognize the failings of their parents, men and women attempt to bridge the distance between themselves, and singular events shape everyday feelings into a new and more meaningful reality.