WAIT TILL YOU SEE ME DANCE
By Deb Olin Unferth
Published in March 2017 by Graywolf Press
Reviewed by Mary Pritchard
Do you have ten minutes to read a story? Perhaps five? Or even two? If you think you can carve out time to digest one paragraph, to 3 pages, to 23 pages, there is a short story in Deb Olin Unferth’s Wait Till You See Me Dance that will fit your time slot. These stories are worth whatever time you can give them.
Unferth’s stories are appealing because they engage the person who finds herself unlikeable; the mother who can’t deal with “[turtles], teenagers, basement apartments”; the wife who thinks “longingly” of the man she might have married when her own husband doesn’t want to take an adventurous walk. Most of us — man or woman — have been there. Irony flickers throughout each story.
The title story, “Wait Till You See Me Dance,” covers a trip with an unappreciative acquaintance, as well as experiences that anyone who has been an adjunct professor will find relatable. Some stories are in first person, others in third person limited, while “Stay Where You Are” has an omniscient narrator. Are you thinking of curing your obsession with screens: the computer, the phone, the TV, the movie house? Read “Online” before taking the plunge.
While reading Unferth’s stories, you’ll more than likely have moments where you laugh and say, “Oh, yes, I’ve been there.”
