RAYMOND S. SCHMIDGALL, PhD, CPA, is the Hilton Hotels Professor of Hospitality Financial Management at Michigan State University. DAVID K. HAYES is the managing owner of the Clarion Hotel and Conference Center in Lansing, Michigan. He is the coauthor of Restaurant Law Basics and Food and Beverage Cost Control, Second Edition, both published by Wiley. JACK D. NINEMEIER, PhD, is a professor at Michigan State University.
A smartly written 1995 debut collection of eight stories, by the French author of the novel Sans Moi (2001). Desplechin's characters are women involved, or seeking relationships, with the men who usually thwart, disappoint, or perplex them. What gives the collection its freshness is their bluff resilience. The bedraggled single mother who cocks a skeptical eye at her blase lover (in An Important Question ); the woman (in Something's Wrong ) who gets along quite well, thank you, without her uncommunicative boyfriend; and the title story's chastened Benedicte, whose dying grandmother teaches her that we can persevere, and manage happiness: they're all feisty, likable survivors, and Desplechin's economical portrayals of their failures and successes are consistently winning. (Kirkus Reviews)