Poignant in a funny-sad way, these interconnected stories about mostly white upper-middle-class LA families deal with intergenerational attempts at connecting through and around technologies, coping with climate change and the dread of The End, stumbling on each other's porn histories, nail-biting over white guilt, breaking up and getting together. Connecting somehow. It doesn't add up to anything earth-shattering, but I loved it for its everyday truth-telling, a series of refreshing little paintings about our ridiculous modern world.

Atavists is a wonderful collection of linked short stories, a genre I particularly like--when well done short stories are an amazing artistic feat and when connected they give the satisfaction of a novel while also giving the opportunity to read an entire piece of craftsmanship in a short but concentrated experience.

The stories are about family and relationship but also about climate change, the end of the world, greed, the aftermath of the pandemic, depression, community. Millet is a fine writer--she creates complicated worlds with deft touches. The older generation (people in their 40s) feeling like "tourists" in a new world while the younger generations seem equally confused. Ordinary people of all ages trying to make sense of extraordinary times. A young man goes to therapy and the therapist can't decide if he is depressed or merely seeing the world accurately.

Millet tackles big themes but through people living through all the ordinary situations and relationships with which we are familiar. Two sisters--one, the "successful" career woman (Millet manages to use this sister and her job to make indirect commentary on capitalism--through the eyes of her mother, who carries the memories of her activist days--who is settling for an unsatisfying relationship from which she is too lethargic to end; the other sister is drifting until she finds meaning in an unexpected way.

The writing is beautiful. The people and situations feel real, vivid and the larger themes don't take over the life of the world Millet has created. Middle (or maybe upper middle) class people making their way and creating their lives--the world seems new but the challenges remain familiar: to make connections and find meaning individually and in community.

Atavists will be published on Apr 22 2025 by W. W. Norton & Company. I want to thank the publisher, NetGalley and the author for providing me with a copy of this ebook.

'Atavists' by Lydia Millet is a composite novel that comments on how different generations and a community interact. She interlinks people through not only their small daily interactions but also major social upheavals. Her comments on the COVID pandemic are some of the best I have ever read.

I am a massive fan of Millet. Her ability to transform the ordinary into a story that feels completely extraordinary is a true talent. In such short pieces, she makes the reader connect with the characters and expresses their emotions, motives, and actions compellingly. It is such a talent to be able to represent so many individual characters within each other's narratives, yet it is seamlessly done by Millet. At no point, did it feel forced to have the characters come in and out of each other's lives. It seemed natural and human, much like how in our daily lives we interact with those around us. I have found this in Millet's writing that she has a strong ability to represent what being human feels like.

The plot was simplistic but in a way that the focus is always on the characters and setting around. She delves into themes of grief, aging, and politics in a way that is enhanced by its lack of adrenaline pulsing. Instead creating a slice-of-life and commentary on the world around us.

I would recommend this to anyone who is a fan of lit fic as Millet can truly cater to many audiences.

Thank you to #netgalley for this edition of #atavists. It's a book I won't stop recommending.