A Selfie as Big as the Ritz
Stories
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4.0 • 1 Rating
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- $11.99
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
“Lara Williams makes a bold debut with this razor-sharp, magnificently humane story collection.” —Entertainment Weekly
She finds herself single, twenty-nine, partially-employed, and about a half a stone overweight. Roller dexter of eligible friends rattling thin. Thirties breathing down her neck like an inappropriate uncle. She jogs. Looks good in turquoise. Finds herself punctuating gas “better out than in!” patting her stomach like a department store Santa. This is who I am, she thinks.
The women in Lara Williams’ debut story collection, A Selfie as Big as the Ritz, navigate the tumultuous interval between early twenties and middle age. In the title story, a relationship implodes against the romantic backdrop of Paris. In “One of Those Life Things,” a young woman struggles to say the right thing at her best friend’s abortion. In “Penguins,” a girlfriend tries to accept her boyfriend’s bizarre sexual fantasy. In “Treats,” a single woman comes to terms with her loneliness. As Williams’ characters attempt to lean in, fall in love, hold together a family, fend off loneliness, and build a meaningful life, we see them alternating between expectation and resignation, giddiness and melancholy, the rollercoaster we all find ourselves on.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Williams's debut collection comprises 21 brief, inventive stories of women in their mid-to-late 20s who struggle to navigate the perilous waters of love, work, and adulthood in the 21st century. In "One of Those Life Things," one of the book's strongest entries, a woman has an abortion after a bad breakup. Another woman endures the particular pains of dating in the internet age in "Dates," while another loses her boyfriend, job, and hair in quick succession in "Taxidermy." A considerable number of stories, including "It Begins" and the humorous "The Getting of the Cat," make use of second-person narration, sometimes recalling Lorrie Moore at her most concise. And, though there are attempts to introduce variations to the theme such as "A Lover's Guide to Meeting Shy Girls; or, Break Up Record," in which a boy turns to music to move on from a failed relationship characters and plots begin to blend together as the collection progresses, leaving the reader with vague impressions instead of memorable, specific instances of drama, detail, and conflict.
