Cockfosters

April 24, 2017
Cockfosters is the name of a station on the Piccadilly Line of the London Underground. In the titular story of this playful collection, a trip to that station to recover a pair of lost eyeglasses is a MacGuffin for two friends sharing family news and commiserating on the indignities of aging. In “Kentish Town,” the choice of The Chimes over A Christmas Carol for a public reading leads to a shaggy but interesting discussion between three book group ladies about the Dickensian era and the author himself. “Kythera” is built around a recipe for something called “lemon drizzle”: a mother faithfully follows instructions, drifting into a reverie about other memorable dishes and her sometimes prickly relationship with her daughter. The affecting “Cheapside” tracks the unusual friendship between a middle-aged man and an aimless teenager. “Arizona” takes a cheeky look at health declining due to age. The most substantial of the nine stories is the novella-length “Berlin,” following a group of British tourists in that city. Descriptions of attractions are woven in with bits of conversation and flashbacks involving a couple whose relationship is in turmoil. This is a loose and entertaining collection.

Starred review from April 1, 2017
Time is the essence of this spare, subtle short story collection.Two middle-aged women, friends from high school who haven't seen each other for years, ride the train together from central London to the end of the line to recover a lost pair of reading glasses and, along with them, their old, easy friendship and spontaneous sense of adventure. A long-married couple, their relationship buffeted by bitterness and betrayal, find themselves the youngest travelers on a package tour to see Wagner's "Ring" cycle in Berlin and, as the shared experience crumbles the emotional wall between them built by entrenched grudges and fears, find their way back to each other as old age approaches. A prosperous lawyer in London's financial district--on his second marriage, to a woman around the age of the daughters from his first marriage--takes the teenage son of an acquaintance to lunch to persuade him that law would be a wise course of study, yet, as the lawyer reflects back on the course of his own life, his choices, and their consequences, its wisdom seems less clear. The nine stories in Simpson's (In-Flight Entertainment, 2012, etc.) sharply written collection carry titles that reflect a sense of place ("Moscow," "Arizona," "Berlin," etc.). But, perhaps to a greater degree, the stories concern time--the effects of its passage, the disappointments it brings, the opportunities for growth it offers. Too, they grapple with issues of gender--especially incisively in the sly, clever "Erewhon"--and touch on the topics of art, literature, and economic and social inequality. And although Simpson's stories are timely and rooted in their British milieu--strongly evoking the personal and cultural struggles of today's middle class--they are also far-reaching and timeless, addressing matters of loyalty and mortality that are universal and deeply human. Simpson's stories pack a quiet emotional power that extends beyond their pages.

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June 15, 2017

For anyone unfamiliar with the London subway system, Cockfosters (of the title story) is the name of the last stop on the Piccadilly line. It is also the destination for a couple of old school friends who have reunited after many years and are retracing their steps to recover a misplaced pair of glasses. The journey back provides the women with an opportunity for a midlife reexamination. A number of other stories in this collection give their characters a chance to take stock at midpoint. In "Cheapside," over the course of a long lunch, a fiftyish lawyer attempts to interest the apathetic young son of a friend in a career in law. A case of negligence involving a live body placed inside a coffin does little to distract either the preoccupied lawyer or the utterly bored teen from their desire to flee the scene. In "Berlin," the last and longest story in the collection, a seniors' trip to Germany to see performances of Richard Wagner's Ring Cycle offers a middle-aged couple time to reevaluate their marriage while in the company of a group of older people who have a little more life perspective. VERDICT If readers are meeting Granta Best of Young British Novelists Simpson (Getting a Life) for the first time, these engaging selections are an excellent place to begin.

Copyright 2017 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 1, 2017
Two women riding to the end of the Piccadilly line to retrieve lost glasses establishes life's stations and time's passage as key threads in Simpson's (In-Flight Entertainment, 2012) sixth story collection. With wit and keen perception, she tackles the cultural assumptions, versus true experience, of middle age in everyday situations. Simpson has a knack for rendering characters' inner lives while contrasting them with seemingly trivial conversations. She honors the natural course of characters' thoughts and words, allowing their fears, regrets, and hidden feelings to break through. These nine stories of British middle-class life feel familiar and accessible, even as they are rich in subtext. In Arizona, for example, an acupuncture appointment transforms into two women's conversational exploration of the transition from childbearing age to menopause. So much about this little book is unassuming that one might be tempted to dismiss it at face value, but doing so would be to miss the profound ways universal insights arise out of the ordinary. With Simpson's gift for expertly capturing our human experience, this is one author never to overlook or undervalue.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2017, American Library Association.)