One Day in the Life of a Born Again Loser

Theron Estes, upon returning home from a 90-day stint in jail, is dismayed to find his two young daughters alone and his wife's cryptic note: "I had enuff its your turn." Thus begins the title story in Helen Norris's latest collection, a funny yet pathos-filled tale of Theron's bizarre attempt to secure Christmas dinner for his girls. Other tales introduce us to a woman who can't recall where she put the Christmas gifts she bought for herself ("Niagara Falls") and a man who has a disturbing experience trying to visit a fellow Vietnam veteran ("The Bower Bird"). With an impressive range, Norris invents and inhabits the worlds of an unforgettable set of characters, both young and old - with authority, sharp insight, and great wit. Her wonderful older woman, having found that everyone else's reality has nothing to offer them, claim the right to create their own. Her troubled young couples often mean well but find themselves heading down bewildering paths. As the current poet laureate of Alabama and winner of several literary prizes, Norris has developed one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary American writing. Her stories are complex, at turns wry and poignant, playful and amusing, haunting and mythical. A few of her stories are traditionally southern in setting and theme, but Norris works well beyond the boundaries of regionalism, crafting stories rooted in contemporary concerns and set in places both rural and urban.