Never a Dull Moment

David Malouf's prose has been called many things in the three decades since his first novel, Johnno, was published: poetic, prize-winning and pearl-like in its polish. But rarely sexy. In work such as Remembering Babylon and Dream Stuff, as much action seems to take place inside the mind as in the body. Which makes the love scene in the title story of his latest collection of short fiction, Every Move You Make (Chatto & Windus; 244 pages), something of a breakthrough. Here the writerly restraint—as book editor Jo conjoins with the ultimately unknowable Sydney house-builder Mitchell Maze—should be studied by every...