by Vicki Urquhart

If ever a book cover belied its contents The Student Body: Short Stories About College Students and Professors does. Don’ t be put off by the title and the unfortunate choice of headless torsos used as cover art. Beyond these obstacles is a collection of funny, sad, sardonic, self-effacing, and tender tales. The characters are recognizable, the settings are familiar, and the situations are believable.

It is evident that editor John McNally, assistant professor of English at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, carefully selected and skillfully juxtaposed these narratives. Opening with Richard Russo’s “The Whore’ s Child,” McNally offers a story of a dour old nun who buffets every attempt by the instructor to shape her writing. She has already lived her life and has no interest in creating a fiction; rather, she joins the class to record both memoir and lesson.

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