Rear View

Starkly honest, gritty, and at times darkly humorous, the fourteen stories in Pete Duval"s debut collection feature blue-collar workers, lapsed Catholics, bullies, and smalltime thieves struggling with their jobs, their relationships, and their families. Like the fiction of Richard Russo and Andre Dubus, many of Duval"s stories deal with both mundane and unexpected occurrences in a small working-class community. In "Wheatback," a visitor sits in the dark in a nursing home and has a strangely intimate conversation with a patient he has just met. "Bakery" gives an insider"s view of the personal conflicts among the night crew at a commercial bakery — and the horrible incident that results. "Scissors" recounts a tense confrontation in a neighborhood barbershop. In "Impala," frustration mounts when a man drags his wife along on an ill-fated trip to New Orleans. Throughout the collection, Duval explores his characters with compassion and candor and an eye for the surprising moment.