This collection of short fiction is entertaining, quizzical, and unexpected. I never really knew where we were going to land by the time each story concluded. The common thematic element here seems to be the questioning of what is “real” and if that question is even important. These stories take delight in the absurd. For example, in “Granny,” a grieving family has a funeral for a grandmother’s chair and not the grandmother herself. It’s darkly funny at first, but then turns poignant. You are often questioning what is happening as a reader along with the narrators themselves. Often, as the narrator is telling their story, there is a “maybe this is happening, but maybe it isn’t” moment. Because of this, there seems to be a sense of liberation here in terms of the storytelling element, but the narrators involved also feel occasionally frustrated by being on such unstable ground (especially in regards to the unreliability of memory and time) and how this affects who they are.

“Who am I going to be?” seems to be the other recurring question here. When I learned the writer has a background in performance, this made sense to me. What is “real” is constantly shifting and malleable. I think the thematic concerns can be encapsulated by this quote from the story “Flashes of the Future”:

“Life itself seemed to be a performance that was constantly unfolding in front of this hidden audience that couldn’t see, think, sense, or care. It blinked. It knew. And I knew too. There was the moment and nothing more” (56).

My favorite stories in the collection were in the middle, especially “Fatherland,” “Shadow of Myself,” and “Flashes of the Future.” Since the stories are so short, I did occasionally find myself wanting more. However, since a lot was done in such few pages, I found myself taking my time. Fans of the late Zach Doss (Boy Oh Boy) will appreciate this collection I think. Doss also had a background in theater and experimented with the elasticity of realism.