Slipshod and Standing

Ranging from Detroit to the north woods and Lake Michigan coast-with a glimpse of the desert mountains-the collected stories of Slipshod and Standing are about runners, skiers, migrant farmworkers, social workers, fathers, mothers, lovers, and-for many-the great lake that has shaped them. In "Merritt Reef and the Big Parade," the runner Merritt Reef, yearning for his ailing father's approval, looks to medal in a half-marathon and finds, through the rigors and sacrifice of competing, something wholly unexpected at the finish of the race. In the pure Michigan surroundings of "Snow Country," Mark Silver, a reporter and Jew, befriends a migrant farmworker and her young son and experiences a crisis in faith as he attempts to overcome his fear of providing them a Christmas tree. For readers who love seasonal change, the Great Lakes, woodsy trails, and wandering souls committed to the outdoors as a means of salvation, Makiefsky delivers.