This month sees the release of three notable short story collections, each offering a distinct yet provocative exploration of life's challenges and nuances. Anna Bailey's "Wasteland Girls," Sigrid Nunez's "It Will Come Back to You," and Patrick Strickland's "A History of Heartache" delve into themes of redemption, memory, and the impact of difficult circumstances.
Anna Bailey's "Wasteland Girls" uses the expansive American landscape as a backdrop for intimate character studies. The stories examine characters searching for redemption, revenge, and love, with off-kilter events often serving as catalysts for profound life changes. Tales like "The Girl In The Ground" feature individuals reappearing after long absences, while "Jack The Devil" introduces a seemingly immortal Civil War deserter. The collection also explores emotional complexities, such as a wife monitoring her partner's dementia in "Riddles" and the fallout of a troubled inheritance in "Long Way To Come For A Sip Of Water."
Sigrid Nunez, an acclaimed novelist, presents her first story collection, "It Will Come Back to You." Spanning three decades of her writing career, the 13 tales echo the thematic concerns of her longer works, including memory, mental illness, existential questions, and the pursuit of connection. Nunez is noted for her wry humor and subtle provocation, crafting memorable character sketches. Examples include "Philosophers," featuring a teacher described as "an unhappy woman with tastefully teased hair and large, distracting breasts," and "Imagination," which opens with a character entering a party with "the look of a warlock." The collection also includes narratives involving a Brad Pitt lookalike, siblings grappling with depression, and a planned murder.
Journalist Patrick Strickland's "A History of Heartache" focuses on characters struggling against dire circumstances in the small towns of north Texas. These stories highlight a pervasive desperation, with individuals parented by damaged people and facing futures marked by joblessness, homelessness, and hopelessness. Drugs are depicted as both an escape and a trap, and violence is a constant threat. The collection features the bereaved, the lost, and the haunted, but also infuses these bleak narratives with dark humor and fleeting tenderness. Readers will find awkward friendships, reckless relationships, and a pervasive sense of impending failure, all articulated with striking prose.
