This is so commonplace, so threadbare that I am embarrassed, but Eric Giroux’s Clare’s Boutique proves that good things come in small packages. Yes, I’m unoriginal, sorry.

Clare’s Boutique is also Giroux’s third book, so I could also say that good things come in threes, but I won’t. Clare’s Boutique consists of three short stories and an essay, according to him, although it reads more like a brief memoir. The stories, like his previous novels, are set in North Massachusetts, the gritty, post-industrial town of Lowell. Like his previous novels, Giroux continues to explore coming-of-age stories, only this time in a more challenging short-story form.

I have written before about the challenge of the short story (here), the craftsmanship needed to develop characters and narrative in a condensed space. Bravo to Giroux for pulling it off, not an easy task, but he does it with apparent ease and panache!

The addition of an essay gives a “behind the scenes” aspect to the stories, like you have a backstage pass at a concert. The vulnerability and courage to allow us to glimpse “the making of” give the stories further depth and texture.

Full disclosure: Giroux and I taught together many years ago in an artsy, suburban New England prep school. The conversations I remember most with him involved his cinema class and the topics he covered. I remember recommending Un Chien Andalou for his unit on Surrealism!

If you want to read my other reviews of Eric’s work, click here and here.

Photo credit: Sister Mary