Back Talk

Starred review from October 23, 2017
Lazarin’s exceptional debut collection digs deep into the lives of women, telling complex stories of loss, hope, and joy. In “Hide and Seek,” a young mother aims to give her two daughters a happy childhood by moving them to the suburbs, only to discover the dangers that stretch into their new neighborhood. “Lovers’ Lookout” concerns a newly single woman in San Francisco, who meets a man while out on a run and toys with the idea of sleeping with him. “American Men in Paris I Did Not Love” takes a clever structure—each section focuses on one man who lusts after the story’s protagonist—to spin a tale detailing the strain of long-distance relationships. In “Floor Plans,” a friendship forms between two women as one tries to buy the other’s apartment, leading to a struggle for power. Equally effective are Lazarin’s narratives about adolescents. The title story, one of the collection’s shortest, powerfully conveys the experience of seeing a moment of youthful pleasure transform into a gossiped-about scarlet letter, while in “Gone,” two teens create a list of girls in their neighborhood who have died as they face their own struggles with boys and school. Lazarin’s work is confident and exhilarating; this auspicious collection is uniformly excellent. Agent: Julie Barer, the Book Group.

January 15, 2018
This exquisite debut short story collection speaks to the ways women and girls define themselves and delineate their paths.A teenage girl acclimating to her mother's death and its effect on her family leaps into the bracing waters of first love. A woman absorbing the end of her marriage forges a friendship with the woman next door whose choices and losses shed light on her own. Another young woman takes in a boyfriend's departure by connecting with a stranger and taking stock of the things her ex has taught her, the bits of knowledge he has left behind, and the aspects of herself that remain. A teenager and the widower whose young children she babysits connect across the empty space his wife has left behind. The protagonists of Lazarin's stories--daughters, mothers, siblings, girlfriends, wives--are gauging their strengths and soft spots, the ways in which they are independent and intertwined with those around them, their appetites for and aversions to risk and heartache, the truths they choose to know and those they cannot escape. These young women and girls--many of them white, middle-class New Yorkers, some living in the city, others outside of it--have their own particular interests and quirks, their own experiences and inclinations, their own losses and hopes with which to contend. Yet readers may see in them glimpses of their own stories and struggles, their own choices about how and when to act. "It's my hope that this book adds to a conversation about the importance of women's stories, of the domestic, of the subtle and often unspoken ways women care for each other and ourselves," Lazarin writes in the advance galley of the book. Mission accomplished.Sensitive, intricate, and quietly powerful, Lazarin's stories give voice to women learning to live on their own terms.

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Starred review from November 15, 2017
Lazarin's first collection of short stories focuses on the ordinary lives of women and girls in a brilliant and tender way. Claudia, grieving her mother's death, experiences her first love and struggles to find happiness through the heartbreak. Caitlin is the youngest of three children who lingers in the space left between her mother and older siblings and her father and his second chance family, finding she fits in neither, no matter how much she longs to. Sisters Hannah and V fool the neighborhood kids into thinking that they are psychics, but the attention triggers V's desire to learn more about the world, on her own, while their family slowly separates in pursuit of their individual passions. Margaret, a wife and the mother of three boys, sacrifices the bustle of the city for the safety of the suburbs but realizes there is a limit to the amount of control she can have on her life and the lives of others. With poignant imagery and a fresh voice, Lazarin portrays these women honestly and relatably. Her exceptional craftsmanship speaks to the heart, as she paints these tales with empathy and a compassion that extends to all humankind.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)