No Diving Allowed [Paperback]

From F. Scott Fitzgerald to John Cheever, the swimming pool has long held a unique place in the mythos of the American idyll, by turns status symbol and respite. The fourteen stories that comprise NO DIVING ALLOWED fearlessly plunge the depths of the human condition as award-winning author Louise Marburg freights her narratives with the often unfathomable pressure of what lies beneath. In “Identical,” sibling rivalry between brothers exposes lingering resentments of men who never made peace with boyhood animosities; “Let Me Stay With You” follows a man whose innocent attention to a child is gravely misunderstood. The trials of a fractured family come to the fore in the trenchant, unapologetic “Minor Thefts.” Siblings, friends, parents, couples, children: the characters in these stories ask how much any of us can bear before we break. Marburg’s writing is agile, witty, and crisply spare. These are tales of regret and mercy, of bonds forged and frayed, and most of all our individual capacity to love even that which damns us. As readers of these pages will learn, the difference between swimming and drowning is often nothing more than the will to live.

"In her riveting and memorable story collection,No Diving Allowed, Louise Marburg explores forbidden lines and boundaries imposed by class, gender, families and friendships. Some characters step forward with wit and resolve while others do so with threat and devastation. Linked by the presence of swimming pools both clear and murky, these compelling stories are deeply refreshing." —Jill McCorkle, author ofHieroglyphics
 

"How fitting the stories in Louise Marburg's dazzling collection,No Diving Allowed, feature swimming pools, because few writers can wade so far into the turbulent waters of family life. From suburban Connecticut to the plains of Africa, Marburg offers shimmering, iridescent tall3-