Review: Giles Harvey on Amy Hempel

Is there anything worse than a well-written short story? Or (since obviously I’m exaggerating), anything worse than what seems so often to pass for a well-written short story? The prim symmetries, the poignant-ironic reversals, the smothering tone of reticent alertness, the arid virtuosity. It’s the kind of thing—ersatz Raymond Carver, ersatz Lorrie Moo…