Other Women and Other Stories

Goldberg (Nothing Can Hurt You) pairs her 2016 novella with three short works in this impactful volume. Other Women follows an unnamed college dropout in New York City, who addresses her narration to an ex-lover. She runs through memories she shared with the unnamed man, such as hooking up after an art show and watching The X Files together. After she learns he’s engaged to another woman, the narrator takes a job as a nanny for two children and accompanies the family to Berlin. Even in a new city, however, she’s tormented by the feeling of being jilted. The fragmented narrative is carried along by things the narrator wished she’d said to her lover: “I wanted to say: Don’t fuck me like you love me if you don’t.” The other stories are “Paris 1979,” about two CIA agents surveilling an actress believed to be a Soviet spy; “All Girls,” which begins with the disappearance of an 11-year-old girl named Jenny and tracks rumors circulating at her school about what happened to her; and “The Virgin,” concerning college student Lydia, who has a bad sexual experience with a boy from her class. Each entry is told from an intimate point of view and showcases Goldberg’s pared-down prose. It’s a memorable gallery of women on the brink. (Apr.)