In this moving and perceptive collection of linked stories, characters are at uncertain and unsettled times of their lives–perhaps, in an unsatisfying relationship or situation that they can’t quite bring themselves to leave, or in a liminal space between their life as it is (or was) and what it might potentially be. Although the characters rarely find clear answers or resolutions, they make profound discoveries about themselves, and about life.
Connecting the characters is their current (or former) employment by a business that, fueled by a period of success, expanded too quickly. After the business (a.k.a., “the office”) contracts, leading to rounds of layoffs, several characters are left to confront not only unemployment but also other significant challenges in their lives.
Two stories in the collection focus on a young woman, Melissa, who left the rural commune she grew up in, known as the Circle, to try out life in the city. Eventually, she got a job at the office. Still, she continues to feel connected to the Circle and visits it when she can. When she does, she reflects, “I didn’t realize how much of a wound I’d left, how thick the scar was.” Her parents felt betrayed by her move to the city, and her return seems to leave all of them on uncertain ground. As Melissa observes, “I wasn’t ashamed of wanting a different life than what my parents had, but I missed the kindness.”
One major force pulling Melissa back to the Circle is Jay, a young man she grew up with. During one of her returns to the commune, she spends the night at Jay’s school-bus-home, and the two of them make love. Fox writes beautifully about how this raises the stakes for Melissa, who makes these observations the next morning:
When Melissa loses her job at the office, she returns to the Circle so that she can “[f]igure a few things out.” One of the most difficult things to figure out seems to be her future with the commune, and with Jay. “How,” she thinks, “could I tell him that finding one another in adulthood was so unexpected? How could I tell him I didn’t expect it to last?”
Yet her time with Jay brings her closer to a decision, and Fox takes us right up to the edge of it, leaving us with a sense of the power of human connection, and of how it can push other considerations aside–at least for a moment, and sometimes longer.
Another young woman at a crossroads in her life is Sabine, an artist and (former) co-worker of Melissa’s. During her time at the office, Sabine puts her art on hold, leading her live-in boyfriend, Ryan, to accuse her of selling out, even as he pressures her to help him complete his own works of art, something he’s been unmotivated to do. (Ryan asks that people call him Sebastian, something that Sabine and her mother find both annoying and humorous.)
Is it time to leave Sebastian/Ryan? Is it time to return to artmaking? As she considers these questions, Sabine receives kindness and support from another former co-worker, Michael, and a romance begins to blossom. Yet when the story reaches a turning point, and a chance for Sabine to deepen her relationship with Michael, she steps back. “They were like moons,” she observes, “orbiting different planets.” But Sabine seems to come to a peace with this decision (or indecision), suggesting the necessity, even the advantages, of being able to live in gray areas, in love and other matters.
Michael is the subject of a separate narrative thread, which culminates in perhaps the most heartbreaking story in the collection. It’s set in a future in which climate change has continued to devastate the Earth, diminishing the food supply to a degree that it can no longer support the entire population. In response, an international consortium establishes a moon colony, where the living conditions are far from ideal. Even so, the consortium forces certain citizens to take up residence in the colony, leaving loved ones behind for good.
One such citizen is Michael. The consortium informs him that he cannot take his seriously ill father, or his sister, to the moon with him. Yet because the consortium seems to possess (and make nefarious use of) everyone’s personal data, it knows that he was once in a relationship with Sabine, and that she is now divorced and available to be “matched” with him in the moon colony.
Michael and Sabine are matched, and on the moon, they raise Sabine’s children from her previous marriage and a daughter of their own. They make as good a life as they can, even as oxygen levels decrease in the colony, leading some citizens to depart to yet another colony, on Mars. According to representatives of the consortium, there are limited seats on transport vehicles, so most parents–including Michael and Sabine–send their children ahead to Mars, knowing that they may never see them again.
In the end, Michael and Sabine embark upon a voyage of their own. Not wanting to give away the details, I’ll just say that the journey they make together conveys the richness and beauty of the lives they’ve lived, together and apart. Here’s part of an exchange between the two of them, toward the end of the story:
“He was a kind man, a kind father,” Sabine said, breathing deeply.
“She was a gifted artist, a good mother,” Michael said, exhaling.
“They made a family,” she said.
“They were a family,” he said.
This story suggests that there can be beauty, and love, even in our darkest moments, and even near our ends. Like the other stories in this fine collection, it’s emotionally resonant and memorable.
Would My Pick be Your Pick?
If you're interested in ________, the answer may be "Yes":￭ Short stories
￭ Stories about uncertainty, or about being at a crossroads in one’s life
￭ Dystopian fiction
