A book of short stories, What Was Mine raises the question of whether Beattie is best suited to write short stories or novels, or whether it is valid to compare the writer's talents in both areas every time a new book comes out. Another issue on which critics are divided is whether her so-called detachment is an advantage or disadvantage, and whether detached, aimless characters produce boredom or involvement in the reader. In addition, Beattie's economy of style has provoked the same divided opinion: Does a spare style produce thin writing, or is the opposite true? (There is also the criticism that her work is full of cultural clutter, a seeming contradiction to the spare-style critics.) Furthermore, there is the issue of Beattie's social world, peopled largely by white uppermiddle-class characters, who nevertheless do react strongly to incidents in the lives of the less privileged. Is...