In an elegant and penetrating first shortstory collection Limbo and Other Places I Have Lived Lily Tucks characters travel to unknown exotic places and while there find themselves deeply immersed in observation of the natives the local customs the foreign landscape in an effort to discern some elemental truth about who they themselves are Instead these women meet with disorientation confusion they are disappointed by the people closest to them lovers husbands family members Finally they arrive at the sometimes heartbreaking but ultimately optimistic realization that the answers they seek lie not in other people or places but within themselves Limbo and Other Places I Have Lived is a brilliant collection from a writer of exceptional poise and insight