People I Wanted to Be by Gina Ochsner

People I Wanted to Be

Gina Ochsner

Strange things happen to people in these short stories -- ghostly messages appear on the family's tape recorder, drawings come alive, weird pets force couples to reconsider their relationships. The characters either live in Eastern Europe or have emigrated to the States, and their lives are often dislocated and provisional. A good one to pick up and put down, perhaps on the train.

Extract
The trains hoot and trundle over the tracks, and I tell myself I'm not defeated, not lonely, not with all this noise and bustling. In the morning I wake with a start, the thought that something unexpected, something magical even, might still happen to a guy like me, pulling me toward the city throbbing below the hills.
Parallels
  • The Body Artist by Don De Lillo
  • Women and Ghosts by Alison Lurie
  • Don't Tell Me the Truth about Love by Dan Rhodes