SOURCE: "A Hero in the Worst of Us," in The New York Times Book Review, December 21, 1986, p. 12.

Sigal is an American novelist and educator. In the following review, he analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of The Last Worthless Evening, pointing out Dubus's sympathy for his characters.

In Andre Dubus's fine story "Rose," a nameless former Marine Corps lieutenant muses in a bar: "We like to believe that in this last quarter of the century, we know and are untouched by everything; yet it takes only a very small jolt, at the right time, to knock us off balance for the rest of our lives." That could be the keynote of the four novellas and two short stories in The Last Worthless Evening, dealing mainly with ordinary people whose common bond is a kind of ecstasy of despair, which can also be their source of strength.

Mr. Dubus's own...