By turns electrifying and haunting, the stories in Nelly Reifler's debut collection, now available in paperback, imagine a world where the emotional logic of dreams and childhood fantasies rules our actions.

In the title story, an educated young woman sits behind the glass of a talk booth in a peep show and becomes a different girl for each man who visits. "The Splinter" posits a thorn in a little girl's scalp as the physical locus for a father's wrenching grief and helplessness following his wife's desertion. In "Teeny," an awkward, pubescent girl can't bring herself to perform the simple task of feeding the vacationing neighbors' cats. In "Baby," an infant asks his mother existential questions that are impossible to answer.

Exploring her characters' psyches with the precision of an anthropologist, Reifler illuminates physical urges, crippling fears, stark isolation, and overwhelming, often transgressive desires. Through it all, the author plumbs the deep chasm between expectation and reality with boundless hope, warmth, and wisdom.

Reader Reviews

(2/5)

May 15, 2024

I struggled with what to rate this book; I feel bad about the 2. But there were 14 stories, and I liked 4 or 5 at best.

Jon

(4/5)

Reifler's stories range from the traditional to the offbeat, from the scary to the mundane. It's when she's walking the line between that line of scary and mundane that she's at her best. Mystery--and more specifically the mystery behind our impulse toward violence--is the major motif of the early stories of this collection, which also are among the best."Teeny" focuses on a girl who is charged with taking care of the vacationing neighbors' cats--but who for some reason shies away from actually

(5/5)

I enjoy the stories from this book. The stories were well crafted and I had no problem visualizing the details. I also really liked that one or two stories felt fantastical, though the could also be literal. I really enjoy stories written that way because they're open to interpretation. I'd recommend this to anyone looking for a good contemporary writer. And I'd read more of her work.

Morgan

There were a few stories that I wasn't too keen on, but a couple I really enjoyed. The highlight was definitely the Lacanian squirrel with an identity crisis.

Robert Warren

With humor, razor insight, and generosity, Nelly Reifler's stories brighten the shadowy corners of life, enlivening misfits and outliers in such a way that we see shared humanity, even as we accept horror and dysfunction. This is prose that'll broaden your inner landscape, give you more room to see characters you might otherwise shy away from. Because her style is often spare, you'll step back from a page and say, "How'd she do that?" She's like a musician; she knows the music exists as much in

John

Quietly cunning ... brims with swift, dark precision.

Danielle

This is a collection that I will mull over for awhile. Some of the stories are breathtaking. Others lean to the creepy side. Overall, a very good collection.

Jessica

(3/5)

I like short stories. This is really quirky and sometimes creepy. I enjoyed it, but I knew Jani wouldn't so, I left it in the hotel in Seattle for someone to find. I love the idea of leaving and finding books.

Asya

This was my "bathroom book'. I usually leave a book of short stories in my bathroom so when nature calls I have something to read. In any event, this book made me stay in the bathroom much longer than I needed to be. I enjoyed the stories, especially "Personal Foundations of Self Forming Through Auto-Identification with Others". Sure, the story is about a squirrel who wants to be a rat but it was so much more. Everyone in their life has wanted to be someone else and be accepted for who you are a...

Risse

Beautifully written. Short and to the point. The stories are so interesting I can keep re-reading them and never be bored :)

Amber

good short read

Koz

Nelly is as good a writer as she is a teacher. These stories are gripping. I was totally gripped.

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