219 pages. Published October 8, 2024 by Stillhouse Press. Fiction anthology.
In some ways, the title of this collection is redundant: aren’t grownups just always sad, all the time? It sometimes feels that way. Grownups have so many reasons to be sad, and the ones in this collection are sad about things like difficult relationships and unhappy families (all families are alike, etc), death, grief, loss, really bad decisions, and ongoing existential crises. But most of it is just life, with its ups and downs. Like the three generations of women struggling with different things on their own in People’s Parties, but still finding a way to be a family. Or the unreliable narrator of Doctor Visit who tells a sad story in three ways, whose sister says of their childhood, None of it was that bad. And it kind of isn’t.
My favourite story was about Heather, who’s working at a religious camp, and builds an unexpected rapport with the bunch of young boys she’s in charge of. So wholesome. I also really liked Cinema, which is about a terrible grief but also about human connection, as it follows a woman over the course of one odd night. Then there’s Ghosts, a quirky story about a kind of accidental robbery where nothing really happens after. The Last Summer is about a terminally ill man finding one last bit of light in the darkness.
It’s a very readable collection, the kind of thing that will take you away from your own life for a while. Be warned, though: it’s a bit nihilistic. For me, it was a bit depressing, reading about other people’s problems, and a reminder that life is kind of sad (a reminder I don’t really need with all that’s going on in the world). However, it is beautifully written.
Thanks to Stillhouse Press and to NetGalley for DRC access.
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Harare Review of Books 
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