Her occasional so-clever turns of phrase can be uncomfortable reminders of the writer's presence, when the reader might otherwise prefer a lighter touch.Fortunately, these are fairly minor quibbles, and this collection has a lot to recommend it. These stories are full of intriguing conceits - the world in which those who experience love grow a new arm is perfectly poetic and ripe with potential - but Ausubel's writing can seem too infatuated with its inventions, unintentionally holding the reader at a distance. This sometimes charming, sometimes frustrating collection of stories from Ramona Ausubel navigates a surreal territory of dream logic, plumbing deep wells of emotion and human fragility while occasionally falling victim to its own preciousness. Funny, surprising, and delightfully strange-all the stories have a strong emotional core Ausubel’s primary concern is always love, in all its manifestations. In “Atria” a pregnant teenager believes she will give birth to any number of strange animals rather than a human baby in “Catch and Release” a girl discovers the ghost of a Civil War hero living in the woods behind her house and in “Tributaries” people grow a new arm each time they fall in love. In each of these eleven stories Ausubel’s stunning imagination and humor are moving, entertaining, and provocative, leading readers to see the familiar world in a new way. A Guide to Being Born is organized around the stages of life-love, conception, gestation, birth-and the transformations that happen as people experience deeply altering life events, falling in love, becoming parents, looking toward the end of life. Major literary talent Ramona Ausubel, author of Sons and Daughters of Ease and Plenty, combines the otherworldly wisdom of her much-loved debut novel, No One Is Here Except All of Us, with the precision of the short-story form.

Reminiscent of Aimee Bender and Karen Russell, from the author of the new collection, Awayland-an enthralling book of stories that uses the world of the imagination to explore the heart of the human condition.

A Guide to Being Born by Ramona Ausubel