Tsuris

Tsuris is a collection of ten original short stories best characterized by its title, a Yiddish word defined by Leo Rosten in The Joys of Yiddish as "troubles, woes, worrying, suffering." Here, tsuris takes many forms. In "Mitchell, Max, Meyer and Mendel" and "Sticks and Stones," the main characters obsess over strange hair growth and malapropisms. "In Flight" and "Goodbye, Grape Leaf" center around sexual insecurity and incompatibility. Parenting doubts plague the narrator in "The Fifth Week," while a miscarriage torments a woman in "Triangles." In "Mockingbirds," a maladjusted father struggles to connect with his well-adjusted son. "Dress-Up" and "Exposure" uncloak long-concealed truths. And, finally, an amoral, remorseless man eavesdrops on his own funeral in "Beyond the Pine."; But one shouldn't assume this is a depressing collection; tsuris often engenders liberating self-awareness and sardonic humor. Without tsuris, life would be static...and these stories would be lifeless.