FLIGHTS IN THE HEAVENLIES: Stories (Sunsinger Books/Illinois Short Fiction) - Softcover

Six stories with vivid West Coast settings and characters who, when appropriate, beguile and alarm even if they cumulatively lack an energizing edginess. Finney (Words of My Roaring, 1993, etc.) writes about a more down-home, less glitzy, often Catholic California, one troubled by universal rather than conventional local concerns. It is sometimes beautiful but, more often, merely hot and dusty--a backstage California, as it were--where the landscape is as homely as its inhabitants. In the title piece, Margaret, whose psychic gifts (symbolized by the sounds of doves) enable her to find lost objects and people, flees to Canada when she thinks people are trying to exploit her gift. More to the point, her discovery of a woman drowned in a pond makes her ask ``what good is there left to find anyhow?'' The two most notable tales--``Stepsister'' and ``Talus,'' which first appeared in Sewanee Review and Kenyon Review, respectively--share the common theme of troubled religious vocation. In the first, Sister Marynora stays in the Church, but, as diocese chancellor, increasingly prefers administration to pastoral duties. When she's appointed executrix of a cousin's will, she becomes temporary administrator of a San Francisco spice factory and reveals a chilling disregard for her employees. In ``Talus,'' Butch leaves the priesthood after two decades, heads for the hills, and, once there, tending sheep and meeting the remarkable Rhonda, finds a different but no less profound vocation. Other stories detail how a violin prodigy repays the community that nurtured him (``Agents of Grace''); how the discovery of $3 million affects a young girl's relationship with her employers (``The Money Tree''); and how a restaurant owner comes to accept the implacable workings of cause and effect (``Double Smart''). Stories finely crafted and paced that often falter at the finish line. -- Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

California settings and certain recurrent themes, such as religion, bind this story collection together, but it is more notable for the singular imagination of each story. At the heart of every piece is a unique and troubled soul: a reluctantly clairvoyant woman exploited by her profit-seeking daughter; "Spaghetti Al," the borderline-alcoholic chef and owner of a restaurant/gambling den. The characterizations are unfailingly deep and sympathetic, the details memorable?like Chet, for whom lifting heavy stones had evolved from necessity to something of a pastime: "He didn't know all the reasons people picked up rocks here. 'It's kind of a tradition.' " But almost all of the stories are nevertheless slightly unsatisfying; they end without resolution, in a manner that adds no crucial vagueness or anomie. There are other small weaknesses: for example, Finney's transitions from flashbacks can be abrupt and confusing. But in the last and longest tale, "Talus," Finney (Birds Landing) hits his stride, and the result is striking. This love story featuring a lapsed priest who becomes a shepherd is truly haunting and indicates a talent well worth watching.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.