Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It

The characters in these eleven stories include a love-struck young ranch hand, an aging Argentine lover, a self-involved grandmother who comes back from the dead, and two hitchhikers named Bonnie and Clyde. All of them are caught between opposing forces: between innocence and experience, impulse and stability, fidelity and desire. All of them are flawed, act irrationally, betray their own best interests, and what emerges is a clear calm and intelligent series of explorations into self-interest and self-sabotage.

The stories are concise and clear, never wasting words, never flowering up simple impulses, and this shows restraint on Meloy's part. Despite the slightly morbid direction of each story, exploring death and infidelity in gruesome detail, the stories are easy to read and glazed with a dark dry humour.