Another Place You've Never Been

Focusing on thirtysomething Tracy, Kauffman's debut novel could be mistaken for a story collection if the pieces weren't so incredibly interwoven. The setting is working-class Buffalo, NY, and Kauffman reveals the passage of time as she recounts Tracy's interactions with other characters, notably her father, whom we first meet when Tracy visits him at age ten. Later, we see Tracy as the daring bad girl in the neighborhood and, from the perspective of her boyfriend and a cousin, as a grown-up restaurant hostess wanting more. Throughout, the presence of mysterious Native American figures adds insight and depth into the characters' experiences. The novel's snapshots reveal lonely, often unfulfilled people whose relationships with loved ones have largely missed the mark. Tracy's father allows a jealous girlfriend to come between them, for instance, and her boyfriend can't commit.