Give Me Your Answer

Britta Santowski is a freelance writer in Victoria, B.C.

The term “short stories” is really a misnomer when applied to this
exceptional work. Give Me Your Answer is essentially the telling of one
story, divided into various incidences, influences, and stages. The
collection bears multiple highlights, climaxes, and epiphanies retold
from memory. As stated in “Half in Love,” a lifetime in retrospect
can be reinvented: it’s about “doing portraits from memory, letting
distance and reflection enhance the original impression.”

Miller uses the construct of multilayered short stories to create a
complex family-of-origin exploration. She explores family patterns in
delightfully original ways, and the resulting stories nicely complement
each other. In the opening story, “Sunrise to Dark,” family secrets
are partially revealed to Daisy the child. In “The Seven Solemn Vows
of Friendship” (“Well, six. We couldn’t think of a seventh, but we
didn’t like the sound of Six Solemn Vows”), the
daughter-blames-mother syndrome turns on itself when an adolescent’s
experience is revisited through adult eyes. The character Elvira in
“Missing Person” adds the dimension of history to each woman’s
experience. The last story, “Surface Tension,” discloses more family
secrets, but this time to Daisy, the capable adult. Each story
influences the others, both previous and upcoming.

This is Daisy’s telling of Daisy, and of the characters whose life
experiences have culminated and helped to create and shape Daisy. Beyond
the brilliant twisting and intertwining of tales, Miller has a playful
linguistic talent that makes for a fulfilling reading experience.