So many people, Mariana Collected stories, 1959-1967

A definitive collection of stories by a Portuguese master of the form. The stories that make up this remarkable volume are united by their quiet intensity, their commitment to internal turmoil, and their enduring interest in the lives, hopes, and miseries that are unique to women. They were originally published between 1959 and 1967 but for the most part, and except for a few small details, feel as fresh as if they'd been written just now. "He could have been a traveling salesman, a train conductor, or a sailor," Carvalho writes at the beginning of "Life and Dream." "However, he was none of those things because we do not make ourselves; we are shaped by circumstances." In "A Love Story," the narrator asks, "Did anyone admire or envy them; could anyone look at them without smirking?" An especially pathetic--and especially badly dressed-- couple is being discussed, and while the story comprises fewer than 10 pages, Carvalho manages to pack it with pathos, humor, bitterness, wit, and a surprise ending as well. In many stories, Carvalho takes on heavier topics--murder, adultery--but no topic is too light or too small for her attention. In "Miss Arminda," for example, the narrator takes the time to distinguish between the "people who knew her" and those "who thought they knew her only because they saw her pass by every morning." This insistence on the apparently mundane is further proof of Carvalho's masterful eye--and her abiding faith, whether stated or unstated, in the inherent dignity of women's experiences. That's not to say that she focuses only on women, but her gaze does tend to land on subjects that likely would have been labeled frivolous at the time she was writing. Elegant stories full of a dry and subtle wit, intricately observed scenes, and a full range of emotion. Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.