Book excerpt: Dubus’s fourth collection is a compassionate depiction of lives that are never as neat as his characters would have them be In his fourth collection, Andre Dubus revisits the themes of infidelity and fallibility that he has been known to explore with such unflinching honesty and unfailing respect. Set in the New England landscape and populated by the men and women he has come to claim as his own, these stories are ultimately characterized by their extraordinary ordinariness. They are a reverent testament to the quiet sadness of humble lives. Deeply moving and insightful, The Times Are Never So Bad is yet another masterful work by a writer whose Chekhovian sensibilities inform—yet never distract from—his own fully realized perspective. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Andre Dubus including rare photos and never-before-seen documents from the author’s estate.