Total by Rebecca Miller
If this collection of stories has a theme it is “first person terror”. Half the stories involve pregnancy or motherhood. Terrifying, irrational, horrible first person experiences of pregnancy or motherhood. Others involve family, and in one case a blocked writer. Terrifying, irrational, etc. experiences of etc.
There are so many dangers here. But the ones in their heads don’t seem to be real.
It does get to be a bit much.
These people aren’t all that likable. And it’s not that fun to be inside their heads while they freak out and make terrible decisions. I don’t even feel much sympathy for them.
Why do I want to read about this? I dunno.
Mainly I kept reading because these people are so freaked out, so irrational, so broken, you have to read on just to try figure out what is happening. Because the protagonists sure don’t know.
- Rebecca Miller, Total, New York, Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2022.
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