Tallent's short stories and essays have been published in literary magazines and journals such as The New Yorker, Esquire, Harper's Magazine, The Threepenny Review,[1] Tin House, Zyzzyva, and North American Review, and her work has been reprinted in the O. Henry Prize Stories,[2] Best American Short Stories, The Best American Essays, and Pushcart Prize collections.
[5] The New York Times Book Review praised Tallent's "ability to create characters who force us to withhold judgment and leave us gasping at their absolute, solid reality.
"[6] Publishers Weekly called the volume "a smart, thought-provoking study of desire and disappointment.
"[7] Tin House described it as "driving, furious, erotic, gilded, the sentences flying at you like arrows.
She has been a faculty member at Stanford University since 1994, teaching both undergraduates and fellows in the Stegner Fellowship program.