Sweet Life by Linda Biasotto Published by Coteau Books Review by Alison Slowski $18.95 ISBN 9781550505788 Twisted and perplexing, Linda Biasotto’s short stories in Sweet Life convey all the sadness and mystery of the human condition. With stories about grief and loss, sibling rivalry, marriage, as well as resentment and anger toward tyrannical parents and spouses, Biasotto’s stories cover all the bases of life, and with a bit of dark humour as well. She creates stories the reader has no problem slipping into, to be introduced to another new character at every turn of the page and relating to that character’s struggle with ease. Touching on strange aspects of the personality of each new protagonist that the reader meets in every story, Biasotto introduces the reader to just enough questions to arouse speculation and suspicion. While one or two stories have some parallel plot threads, each story in Biasotto’s first grand collection is unique; a sign of masterful storytelling. In the short story “Sweet Life”, we meet a teenaged boy, Jude Allan, struggling to get away from family home life problems. He realizes he’s not as tough as he thinks he is when his best friend suddenly becomes ill. Jude…