Bull

Susan Patrick is a librarian at Ryerson Polytechnical University.

These stories are peopled by ineffectual and sometimes angry men who
seem overwhelmed by the world and by the women in their lives. As one
character says “I feel dragged into a conspiracy I don’t understand.
One where I end up the patsy.” The characters drift in a world of
bars, drugs, accidents, illness, violence, betrayals, and failed
relationships. Often they behave badly, as if drawn by forces beyond
themselves, but then regret their behavior and find their worlds falling
apart. The stories are written in the first person, and at times the
narrators seem not to understand the implications of their words.
Readers may be left feeling that they understand more than the narrators
do, and may infer that certain events have occurred behind the scenes.
In this collection, Sinnett has created vivid, though not particularly
sympathetic, characters, intriguing situations, and stories that are
quite engrossing.