A great collections of short stories. This is my first Ison book, and I am very impressed. The stories are multilayered and complex and the observations astute and revealing.

Very good-- four stars! ( )

Tara Ison's principal fascinations seem to be human cruelty, isolation and Los Angeles, more or less in that order. While not every story in "Ball" works, the best -- "Cactus", "Wig", "Apology" and the title story -- demonstrate of what happens to people when they make the conscious choice to refuse to connect and grow. Like her obvious literary progenitor, Mary Gaitskill, Ison is unsparing with her characters and doesn't hold back much, but her stuff doesn't have Gaitskill's cutting minimalism, and her prose is, if carefully structured and well-honed, more traditionally writerly. Not for the faint of heart, but not exactly a revelation, this is a good collection for readers with low tolerances for the soft, flowery stuff that wilts away rapidly in the merciless Southern California desert. The cover's a badly executed and wholly unnecessary ripoff of Alison Nutting's "Tampa." It's a pity: while Ison really isn't on Gaitskill's level, just about everything here blows "Tampa" right out of the water. Also, a quick look at Ison's bio revealed that the author had published here and there and taught here and there and uh, received a co-writing credit for nineties-era schlockfest "Don't Tell Mom, the Babysitter's Dead"? I didn't see that coming. My God, L.A.'s a weird place. ( )

Ball is a collection of eleven dark, creepy short stories by Tara Ison.
Contents include:
Cactus: a young woman's boyfriend dies in a freakish accident
Ball: a young woman adopts an ugly dog who likes to play ball
Bakery Girl: a teen works at a bakery
Wig: a woman cares for her dying best friend while having an affair with her husband
The Knitting Story: a woman knits and knits...
Staples: a boyfriend's other, older, rich girl friend gets a face lift
Needles: a couple leave Iowa and stay in a Motel 6 in Needles, AZ.
Apology: a woman resorts to self mutilation to win back her husband
Fish: a woman plans to feed her uncle's remains to some fish
Musical Chairs: a man cheats on his fiance
Multiple Choice: a woman has a boyfriend who requires choices that need to be made

The collection is well written, but the themes of several stories were not very appealing, including the titular Ball, and they were a bit too disturbing. This was a so-so collection for me.

Disclosure: My Kindle edition was courtesy of Soft Skull Press for review purposes. ( )

This collection of eleven short stories is uneven, but predominantly good. The narrators are young women living in Los Angeles and most of the stories are written in the first person. They universally have dark themes with plots that start normally but progress to the unusual with shocking twists at the end. Ison’s protagonists all seem to have painful relationship problems involving rejection, betrayal, suffering, wounding, revenge, etc. They have needs to please, control, punish or seek companionship (including sex). By the end of the stories, each narrator seems to make a weird and stupid decision through twisted logic. Although it is uncomfortable to follow these characters, it is difficult to turn away.

The best stories are CACTUS, BALL, BAKERY GIRL, WIG, FISH, APOLOGY and STAPLES. The protagonists in these stories are more or less damaged by some relationship issue and make unusual choices to resolve them. In CACTUS, a woman grieves for an environmentalist lover who perishes in a freak accident. She seeks to resolve her painful guilt feelings regarding forcing him to transplant a cactus from its natural desert environment to her backyard in a most unusual way. BALL’s protagonist falls in love with an adopted dog that expresses a neurotic need for affection by constantly seeking to play fetch. When she is forced to choose between her dog and her boyfriend, this woman settles on a strange and shocking solution. BAKERY GIRL is a pre-adolescent who is exposed to more worldly people in her part-time job at a bakery. She fantasizes about growing up but becomes disillusioned by the coarseness and degradation she experiences from her co-workers. WIG tells of a young woman whose longtime friend is having chemotherapy and has lost her hair. While lovingly supporting her decisions regarding the choice of a wig, she is also betraying her. In FISH, a young woman is the only family member who visits a dying uncle. We learn that she has ulterior motives related to a childhood experience with her uncle and that she is fantasizing about a strange way to dispose of his remains once he passes. An unfaithful wife who seeks forgiveness from her betrayed husband narrates APOLOGY. Her fruitless apology takes on bizarre manifestations. In STAPLES, a young man nurses an Internet dominatrix who is addicted to esthetic plastic surgery procedures. Throughout he maintains a relationship with his girlfriend, who provides him with the support he needs.

The less successful stories are not as compelling, have more contrived plots (if that is possible) and weaker character development. These include KNITTING, NEEDLES, MUSICAL CHAIRS and MULTIPLE CHOICE. ( )