Who I Was Supposed to Be
by Susan Perabo
Simon and Schuster

Susan Perabo was the first woman to play NCAA baseball. You can find evidence of that in the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY.

Not only can she play ball, she can write a wicked story too. You can find evidence of this in her debut collection of short stories, "Who I Was Supposed to Be." Her fiction revolves around the moment when the protagonist and/or others realize life has not turned out according to plan. But Perabo makes her stories a whole lot more interesting than that. Like veteran writer Lorrie Moore ("Birds of America," "Who Will Run the Frog Hospital," and others) and recent newcomer Julia Slavin ("The Woman Who Cut Off her Leg at the Maidstone's Club"), Perabo finds excitement and quirkiness behind the mini-blinds of suburban America.

With her stories, she explores the oddities of middle-class Americans, and ends up celebrating them. Perabo's writing exudes creativity and abnormality. Her story topics range from a young couple with a Princess Di dress obsession to the relentless anxiety of Bruce Wayne's butler Alfred over Batman's safety.

These are twisted characters in twisted existences that bring both grimaces and grins to readers' faces. Perabo creates a fascinating, yet slightly familiar, series of worlds in "Who I Was Supposed to Be." Perabo's stories have an underlying optimism about them, leaving readers happy, amused and hungry for more. "Who I Was Supposed to Be" is a fantastic, fascinating work that celebrates the remarkable in seemingly unremarkable lives.

— Diane Grypp (gryppd@hotmail.com)