RIGHT LIVELIHOODS begins with a cataclysmic vision
of New York City after the leveling of 50 square blocks of
Manhattan. Four million have died. Albertine, the "street
name for the buzz of a lifetime," is a mind-altering drug that
sets The Albertine Notes in motion. The collection's second
novella, K & K, concerns a lonely young office manager at
an insurance agency, where the office suggestion box is
yielding unpleasant messages that escalate to a scary pitch.
Ellie Knight-Cameron's responses to these random diatribes
illuminate the toll that a lack of self-awareness can take.
At the center of The Omega Force is a buffoonish former
government official in rocky recovery. Dr. "Jamie" Van
Deusen is determined to protect his habitat--its golf
courses (and Bloody Marys), pizza places (and beers) from
"dark-complected" foreign nationals. His patriotism and
wild imagination are mainly fueled by a fall off the wagon.
Only Rick Moody could lead us to feel affection for this
man and the other misguided, earnestly striving characters
in these alternately unsettling, warm, trio of stories.