After reading several … stories in "Hardwater Country" with only partial success, I was led to some … reflections. Here they are.

When asked how he approached his sculpture, Michelangelo replied that he simply cut away the stone surrounding his vision. In his stories, Mr. Busch offers us the chips and shards of experience surrounding his vision, and leaves it to us to deduce the vision for ourselves. To put it another way, most of his stories seem to be composed of the waste materials of action or decision.

His stories are sometimes reminiscent, too, of those records that feature a rhythm section playing the background to a melody so that you can accompany it on a solo instrument of your own choosing. (p. 201)

Anatole Broyard, "Reading a Modern Story," in The New York Times, Section III (© 1979 by The New York Times Company; reprinted by permission), April 28, 1979 (and reprinted in...