Publisher's Weekly
Although a variety of well-realized voices animate the 12 stories in Shields's fine collection, they are all plainspoken and direct--the hallmarks of her sturdy prose. All stories except three are set in her native Canada; most have as protagonists people locked into themselves, suffused with nostalgia, regret, incommunicable longing--and sometimes fulfilled by flashes of communication and tentative hope. In several stories, ordinary people undergo metamorphosis: in the title piece, a couple who acquires a lithograph of an orange fish is suddenly accepted into a charmed circle; in ''Chemistry'' another group is bonded in a magical way by a shared interest; ''Hazel'' is a widow who acquires job skills and confidence and expects to take control of her destiny--only to discover that ''her life is an accident and she has blundered into the heart of it.'' The most distinctive story is ''Collision,'' which hinges upon the notion that the earth's atmosphere is composed of the ''biographical debris'' of everyone who has ever lived. Shields's narrative method is suggested in one tale as ''the way a human life drains toward one revealing scene.'' The author of the accomplished novel Swann should widen her audience with these perceptive tales.

Library Journal
In this collection of 12 short stories, Shields focuses on ordinary men and women and the everyday events of their lives: travel, holidays, work, relationships. The first story, ''The Orange Fish,'' concerns a couple whose stale marriage is revived by the purchase of a lithograph of an orange fish. There is a certain magic to this tale, which sets up an expectation that is not fulfilled by the remainder of the stories. In these stories, which fail to ignite the imagination or present a fresh perspective, none of the characters is memorable or even sympathetic and plots are virtually nonexistent. Shields pays far too much attention to detail, expressed in florid language; one can almost imagine her at work, Roget's in hand. The reader is often left wondering, ''What was the motivation behind this story? Why should I care?'' A disappointing work.-- Kimberly G. Allen, National Assn. of Home Builders, Washington, D.C.