"Atavists," Stories by Lydia Millet

 

The actors in Atavists, a set of 14 madcap stories from Lydia Millet, spout their harebrained opinions, where social media-connected teens of Gen Z and Millennials speak at cross-purposes, summarily correct each other’s political correctness, and dream trendy dreams and visualize leveraging them into celebrity and big paydays. Millet’s tone and content blend to produce frothy pitch-perfect comedy, while beneath it roil the real and apparently intractable 21st Century challenges.

The author weaves brief episodes in the lives of a few families and their contacts — friends, frenemies, exes, coworkers — into a single overarching plot that addresses  questions and gives the reader closure. Or at least a hint at closure.

I celebrate Millet’s ear for au courant patter and her unerring feel for the zeitgeist currently plaguing America. Characters pay close attention to their favored online platforms, combing through posts to follow, accuse, disparage, or glorify whomever might be in the crosshairs. They ponder the subjects and viewpoints they might use to influence followers, and how to monetize them. Or they want their trendy, buzzword-filled talking points to climb the best-seller list, thus proving their correctitude, and granting access to the hottest restaurants and resorts.

The author’s petard becomes crowded with all the hoisting. I love the fun she pokes at almost everything she sees, and I admire her tangential acknowledgement of the real issues facing the country, the economy, and the planet. Part of her design is to highlight the ineffectual lip service these characters pay to this toxic mix — their attitude, almost without exception — is to cite the issue in didactic terms to prove their superior correctness, and let it go at that.

Pick up Atavists and live alongside these modern-day players; they’re self-absorbed, glib, and out for ol’ #1, but some of them achieve wisdom, perspective, or perform a worthwhile charitable role. Millet is at the absolute forefront of current novelists writing in English, one of my very favorites. She shows a light touch with the fabulous foibles and an unblinking way with the cunning self-interest of her cast. Take and enjoy!