With "It Is What It Is," Lydia Davis demonstrates her great mastery of the short form. She dryly and intelligently examines what can happen between us and within ourselves. Davis uncovers even the smallest nuances and details of life, giving them special significance. A wide variety of life situations and human peculiarities are found in the stories, told with a precise, clear perspective: everyday quirks and anxieties, indeed "a few things that are wrong with me"; a financial reckoning over a ended relationship; a mother who is never satisfied with her daughter; a crime story disguised as a French language course; the mystery of what an ex-boyfriend's letter really means; "excerpts from a life" that tell the entire course of a life in fast-forward - and so much more.