In It Will Come Back to You, Sigrid Nunez's wry, incisive 11th work (and first story collection), aging characters navigate volatile relationships and ponder memory and family legacies.
All 13 stories originally appeared in literary magazines such as Harper's and the New Yorker. Nunez (The Friend; The Vulnerables) has been deservedly lauded for her compassionate autofiction. Six stories bear a first-person voice reminiscent of that in her recent novels, while seven are in the third person. A passenger is stranded in inhospitable circumstances in "Airport Story." Jury service unearths uncomfortable memories of an affair in "The Naked Juror." And in "Greensleeves," a woman laments her schizophrenic brother's behavior to a therapist, whose daughter is consumed by eco-anxiety.
Interest in other lives fuels epiphanies. Between college and law school, Phoebe lives in a crummy apartment building mostly occupied by immigrants and wonders if her neighbor could be a sex worker in "Curiosity." Adolescent Elsie's impulsivity catches up with her in "Imagination" when she storms out of the farewell-to-summer party at her parents' country house, breaks her ankle, and startles a fox. The story ends on a delicious note of uncertainty.
Nostalgia and regret vie for position. "Mother-Daughter Story" shines with psychological insight into three generations of women. Raised by a critical mother and alcoholic father, Mo became hypersensitive. For a college assignment, she had to write to her mother in the style of Kafka's "Letter to His Father." The hurts of her past then accumulate and repeat in her treatment of her daughter, Jo. When Mo and Jo clear out Mo's late mother's house, they find the letter. The harm cannot be undone, but small kindnesses might still ameliorate grief and strengthen bonds. The title story offers a melancholy end to the book as the narrator accepts hearing loss and interrogates her memories of her mother figure, 89-year-old "Aunt" Gilda.
There are flashes of humor, though--chiefly in "It's All Good," in which a brother and sister hire a Brad Pitt impersonator to entertain their mother, who has dementia, at a Chinese restaurant. A Highsmith-esque vibe enlivens "The Plan," whose young protagonist plots to murder his wife. His misogynistic outlook is terrifying, as is the sexualized violence a privileged guest threatens toward a hotel employee in "The Rabbit's Foot."
Comparable to works by Elizabeth Strout and Deborah Levy, It Will Come Back to You is a captivating collection that resonates with themes of human vulnerability, memory triggers, generational patterns, and facing shame and bitterness. --Rebecca Foster, freelance reviewer, proofreader, and blogger at Bookish Beck
Shelf Talker: Sigrid Nunez's collected short stories exhibit her trademark compassion, with encounters between family members and strangers alike lending opportunities for connection and the redemption of memories.