"no one knows what to do ... this is just how things work now"
October 23, 2024 7:05 AM Subscribe
Two short, wrenching stories published this year that reflect what it's like to live in this century. "Rachel Is at a Protest" by Esther Alter: content notes for the Holocaust, Gaza, kink, bad dreams that seem to stop being dreams, and a battle against despair. "A Shape that Has No Name" by Monica Wendel: COVID in 2020, a messy painful relationship, prison, and (a spoiler in comments), and what lives one can save, despite everything. These stories closely observe pain, though they don't end with it; take care of yourself and avoid or stop reading if you need to.
Rachel... was haunting and visceral, the dream's bruising and injury carried into the next day. (I clinbed out of a window to escape and had to walk back the long way across my computer desktop.)
posted by k3ninho at 11:47 PM on October 23 [1 favorite]
posted by k3ninho at 11:47 PM on October 23 [1 favorite]
Rachel... has some thematic similarities to Lily Brett's novel Too Many Men. Very interesting stories, thank you!
posted by goo at 2:07 PM on October 24 [1 favorite]
posted by goo at 2:07 PM on October 24 [1 favorite]
« Older Projection: What witchery is this? | Preserved trees thousands of years old uncovered... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
Spoiler for "A Shape that Has No Name"
A character develops an unexpected pregnancy and decides to abort.
posted by brainwane at 7:06 AM on October 23