Exaggeration

Sam Sacks reviews fiction for the Wall Street Journal. A recent entry: “This Is Happiness” by Niall Williams, which celebrates the simple pleasures of rural Ireland circa 1958.

The story’s narrator admits, however, he may be embellishing his memories: “Do I exaggerate? Of course I do. The truth doesn’t care. Here’s the thing life teaches you: sometimes truth can only be reached through exaggeration.”