A Private Performance

Noreen Mitchell is a librarian with the Toronto Public Library.

This collection of short fiction offers a range of characters and
situations in stories that reveal hidden lives and inner truths. In
“Extreme Caution,” a male prostitute conceals his occupation from
his mother, who refuses to allow herself to believe ill of her son
despite her suspicions. A woman who attends the funeral of the brother
she detested for the incestuous acts he forced upon her many years
earlier only appears to be grieving in “The Truth-Teller.” Her
detachment and self-effacement are shared by the main character in
“The Translator,” who suppresses all emotion when engaged in
translation during international negotiations.

The contrast between a calm and controlled demeanor and inner rage or
turmoil is also evident in a number of other stories. “A Change of
Heart” concerns a man who harbors murderous thoughts toward his
too-helpful neighbor. In some stories, the repressed emotions are
ultimately released—either forcefully, as in “The Picture Window,”
or more subtly, as in “Real Men” and “Nocturne.” Despite the
despair and desperation, Radu’s work is not depressing. With a measure
of wry humor and a variety of eccentric characters sympathetically
rendered, Radu achieves instead an empathetic illumination of human
behavior.