Kathleen Alcott

I knocked a little bit off my rating because of a rocky start which almost caused me to abandon the book. I'm glad I didn't, though, as I ended up being completely absorbed in this story of 4 tenants in a converted Brooklyn brownstone and their elderly landlady. They all have problems relating to the world and to other people, but they've each managed to build a home in this building and to forge tentative connections to each other. When that home is threatened, their individual responses show more and journeys take them to unexpected places, both literally and figuratively.

"Oh, no. No need to bring home with me, dear. I know what it feels like." (page 274)

4 stars show less

‘’Skeletons of lovers slumped toward each other in embraces beneath the earth, almost parts of the roots but not quite assimilated, their backs, you could tell, broken. Sad-looking monsters with jugged triangles of teeth, trying to hold the too delicate in their large claws: pretty little boxes ruined, birds dead or dying.’’

Ida tells a simple story. The tale of a childhood in the company of her friends, Jackson and James, her brothers in spirit. They are her partners in crime, in show more games, in joys and sorrows, during a childhood that Ida must face without her mother, supported by her gentle, wise father. And she falls in love with her best friend. She and Jackson must cope with a reality where demons are lurking, waiting to devour them and tear them to pieces.

This novel spoke to my heart in ways I never thought possible, given the fact that I am not exactly sentimental. Yet, I cried. I cried reading about the places of our childhood that have been fenced off and are now out of access. Either for safety reasons or because of monetary motives, the sites that disappear demonstrate what we love to call our ‘’coming of age’’. Ever the pessimist, I tend to call it our ‘’loss of innocence.’’ There is a deep, moving nostalgia in the story, the memories of long, lazy summer afternoons and golden autumn days, when everything was simple, life waiting to be discovered.

But now you need to help the one you love fight their demons. What can you do when they do not want to leave the world of their sleepwalking, but succumb to it with hungry frenzy?

This is a novel that offers an honest, realistic and respectful look on sexuality and the relationships we form at an early age, only for them to be thwarted once we become ‘’responsible’’ adults.

‘’Officially, I’m Ida, though Jackson has called me I as long as I remember. The symbolism is sickening. Even in the worst of it, even in phases where I spoke almost exclusively in monosyllables and guttural sounds and sat around lost in the worn flannel shirt he left behind, I would never bring this up to anyone: and he calls me I. Like I. As in myself.’’

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An ambitious effort to look at America between the fifties and the nineties through the lenses of antiwar activism (transparently echoing the SDS to investigate relationships between affluence and radicalism), space exploration (and the stereotypically strong-silent-hero mythology around astronauts), and youthful coming of age as a gay man in the age of AIDS. Phew! Generally Alcott succeeds in crafting a unified story, though the echoes of historical events and other writers' worlds (from show more the Cormac McCarthy tone of the opening chapters through the Hanya Yanagihara melodrama of later ones) sometimes intrude.

I wanted to like this more than I did. Fay Fern - the central character, along with her son Wright - is more of a sketch than a fully realized person. Victor Kahn - the John Glenn stand-in - endures his life without any hint of introspection;protecting himself from people consumes most of his energy. Wright Fern may be breaking free at the end, or he may be escaping into a world that combines the unexamined radicalism of his mother with the stoic unawareness of his father. Depressing! show less

4.6⭐

Emergency by Kathleen Alcott is an exceptionally well-written collection of seven short stories that revolve around themes of marriage and relationships, friendship, regret, conscience and guilt, poverty and addiction, and ambition and compromise to name a few.

The title story, “Emergency” (4/5) revolves around a woman whose life post her divorce creates a ripple in her former circle of acquaintances. In “Worship” (4.5/5) we meet a woman who moves halfway across the country only show more to discover that there was a lot she did know about the man with whom she was about to begin a new life. A woman finds a photograph of her late mother in a compromising position on display in a museum exhibit that compels her to reflect on her own life and choices in Natural Light (5/5). “A World Without Men” (5/5) follows a couple, married for over forty years, as they are forced to take stock of their relationship while forced to shelter in place during the pandemic. In “Part of the Country” (4/5) we follow a woman who strikes out on her own as she contemplates ending her marriage. In Reputation Management (4.5/5) a young woman experiences a moral dilemma when torn between her professional commitment and personal accountability. We follow her as she is plagued by feelings of guilt and finds it increasingly difficult to remain detached when she learns of a tragedy that she feels could have been prevented. The final story in this collection, Temporary Housing (5/5), revolves around the complex feelings of nostalgia, guilt and despair our protagonist, now a successful adult, experiences as she reflects on the friends and the life she has behind.

The women in these stories are flawed and real and the situations they find themselves in are believable and relatable as are their reactions. Not all of these characters might come across as particularly likable (some will find it easy to judge them) and while we may find some of their choices questionable and express disbelief at the poor judgment they exhibit in crucial moments, the author provides enough insight to allow us to attempt to understand them and their motivations. The tone of these stories varies between reflective, melancholic and defiant with a few moments of dry humor peppered in between.

Do not mistake these stories to be easy or light reading. Despite the length of these stories, the author achieves a level of depth to these characters and the storylines that I could not believe could be possible in a short story format. Each of these stories is thought-provoking, insightful and intense. Exquisite prose, complex characters and the varied themes that are explored make for an absorbing read.

My favorite quote:
“We’re born knowing everything, which is why we wail. We begin to forget, which is how we can stop. And here’s the thing: here’s the thing: here’s the strangest, loving thing, which helps until it doesn’t, which is kind until it’s wicked: At the end of your life, you’ve forgotten the most.” (Temporary Housing)

Many thanks to W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley for the digital review copy. All opinions expressed in this review are my own. The book is due to be released on July 18, 2023.

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