You Never Get It Back

October 11, 2021
Adams’s ornate linked collection comprises snapshots of a woman’s life at various points of change. In the title story, Kate Bishop, a year out of Williams College and living with her depressed mother in Vermont, travels to Cambridge, Mass., to meet Esme, her wealthy former roommate, for a New Year’s Eve party. There, she is reminded of the gaping financial chasm between them, as Esme is now enrolled at Stanford for graduate work while Kate toils as a lab tech. “Charity” flashes back to Kate during a Christmas break from Williams, when her mother gets the idea to give cards to their relatives, falsely claiming that she’s donated $50 to “the poor” (“She doesn’t want the relatives to think we’re cheap,” Kate reasons). “The Foothills of Tucson” picks up with Kate addressing an estranged older lover about finally starting a grad program at 26. In “The Sea Latch,” Kate goes on a beach trip with her mother and younger sister, Agnes, and feels left out of their conversations. Throughout, Adams deploys piercing details and keen moments of Kate’s self-reflection. It’s a dynamic and memorable character study.