Radu, K: Earthbound

With surgical precision and understated humour, in Earthbound Kenneth Radu once again demonstrates his remarkable ability to portray ordinary people in sometimes extraordinary circumstances. Whether it's the story of an old woman who has given birth, or a professor grieving over the death of his child, or a porn shop owner fighting off the financial predations of his brother, or a wheel-chair bound woman terrified by a voyeur, these stories collectively dramatize the conflict between personal wishes and the hard facts of reality. As the title story suggests, what we dream or think about ourselves may well be pulled down to earth, sometimes with a thud, by the gravitational energy of emotion, relationships, unexpected events and inescapable truth. As in his previous collection, Sex in Russia, the stories in Earthbound, are all are imbued with Radu's subtle irony, deft descriptions, acute insight, and compassion for his characters.