31 Aug / Likes by Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum [in Booklist]
Sarah Shun-Lien Bynum’s (Ms. Hempel Chronicles, 2008) prowess here lies in her ingenious ability to elevate seemingly minor moments into the pivotal crux of a narrative. Take, for example, in “Julia and Sunny,” perhaps the most affecting of Bynum’s nine stories, “a small square of silky, pale blue material” that is mistakenly left behind by one child, found by another, then neglected by the adults who should have been more responsible. Into that single blue square, Bynum deftly, remarkably, weaves the dissolution of a marriage, a family, and an intensely long friendship between two couples.
In other standouts, an unexpected message addressed to a long-unused nickname reveals the complicated history of three childhood friends in “Many a Little Makes”; in the titular “Likes,” a father considers that his tween daughter’s Instagram account is more revealing than his actual child; in “The Burglar,” a scheduled pest extermination appointment becomes the converging point for an intruder, his victims, and a fictional criminal a screenwriter is loath to create.
Although the collection proves uneven, Bynum’s more dazzling tales surpass the less memorable for ultimately rewarding results
Review: “Fiction,” Booklist, August 2020
Readers: Adult
Published: 2020