A masterful collection of interconnected short stories, with women at their core. Sometimes strong, sometimes weak; broken and fractured; found but also still lost - these women explore what it means to be whole, oneself, aware, afraid, determined, and existing. A truly thoughtful look at the head space of women and their sense of place, both within themselves and in their physical environments.

On grief: "She was in her well and thought she’d never get out. And he had to admit, it was distinctly possible. A nurturing-type person would probably cluck like a chook and reassure her, but he didn’t have that in him. He could barely say regular things. He’d rather tell her the truth, anyway: a well was deep and true and had its own cylindrical perfection. It gave good shelter because its walls weren’t thin; they were as thick as the earth was round. When you were in a well the walls went on forever. From the solitude of a well, if you were fortunate, you could look up now and then and see a circle of sky. That circle might as well be the world, or the span of a life in it—clouds passed in the blink of an eye, no matter how immense they were. Stars greater than the sun shone down, as small as pins, from infinite remove. Course, you couldn’t say hard things, not when times were already hard. He knew that much. Only music could cross the divide."

"It wasn’t fair, Lexie had thought when she listened to Jun’s parents tell her adoption story at their dinner table once, how those adopting parents had to pass a gazillion tests to get a kid to take care of, but people pumping out their own babies didn’t have to pass jack shit. You had to take a bunch of tests to help a kid that needed you, but not to make a brand-new kid you’d warp for twenty years. Or more."

Short story collections can be hit or miss for me but I enjoyed this one. The stories interconnected in a clever way--by location. We got to know a lot of people but it was done in a way that wasn't confusing or overwhelming.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for giving me access to this for an unbiased review. I've read Millet's Sweet Lamb of Heaven and remember being impressed with how eerie and substantial her writing is, and how no matter the topic she can turn an everyday encounter into something mysterious and off-kilter. I was curious how this story collection would work, and should have expected an equally strange and fascinating world. I was not expecting the stories to be so interconnected, and it took me a few to realize all the characters were interconnected, but then I was fully along for the ride with her at-times too-real local residents. I was particularly impressed by how different the characters were (the step-dad, the wounded girl(s?)) and yet how much they all shared a similar sense of overwhelmed inability to make their world be what they wanted it to be. Without spoiling the ending, I wondered at the end if we aren't all wandering the neighborhood, unaware of the time as it passes. The more I think on this book, the more it horrifies and delights me. Definitely a worthy read!

“People got caught in their own wars all the time,” and Millet carves a bit of the lives of unassumingly associated people to give an example. Witty and thoughtful, the characters, from a single mom to an elderly one, lend their experiences while thier lives intertwine to give you a full picture of life, and lives, that keep on going. Well written and thought provoking.

I didn't realize these stories were linked until the third or fourth one - a pleasant surprise. Judging by the Goodreads opinions of her last two novels - both of which I thoroughly enjoyed - Millet is a divisive figure. Some reviewers find her "too clever," which seems weirdly offensive to me. This collection is front-loaded with some mildly obscene material that sensitive readers may find off-putting, but I would urge them to push through, as the stories become increasingly subtle. My two favorite pieces come from the perspective of an extremely self-aware older woman, whose bittersweet insights on aging seem spot-on to me. ("She'd held it as an article of faith that distance gave you insight. But distance gave you distance.")

Publication date: June 12, 2018
Writing: 4 Plot: 4 Character: 4

A set of 13 interlocking stories about individuals loosely coupled through L.A. real estate transactions. A wide variety of topics - a depressed musician in a pool, a house whose owner swears little men have moved in to do all the work, a phone sex worker who lands a gig as a nanny, surprising new loves, an old woman giving up her home - each story is a told from the perspective of a single person reflecting on some aspect of their life.

I’m not a short story fan in general, but I quickly warmed to these stories, especially as characters reappeared and were allowed to develop. I found the women to be written with more depth and perception than the men. The men are either scumbags or saints (plus one teenage boy trying to choose between the two). For me the collection got better as it went on - the first few stories were OK but by the time I got to the 4th or 5th story I was hooked and they just kept getting better and better. The last story was my favorite.

These are intimate portraits of individuals of all ages and backgrounds, and while not a novel with a clear narrative arc, characters do continually brush up against each other, sometimes with impact and sometimes not. A clear reminder that while each person is the center of their own story, those near by are busily starring in their own.

Great for fans of Ellen Gilchrist