Girlfriends

Zhou’s vibrant debut collection chronicles the often-messy lives of her young trans women protagonists. In “Performance,” a 21-year-old student writes her thesis on Henry James and brushes up on “skills of compartmentalization” to deal with her work as an escort. Marina, the adventure-seeking poet in “Affection,” drops out of grad school and develops an attraction to a photographer after a nude photo shoot. Other stories propel the reader directly into fraught situations: a father and daughter struggle to make a connection in “Do-Over”; Leonora, the college dropout in “Means to an End,” tries to restructure her new life in a crowded apartment filled with bickering lesbians. These character studies are light on plot, but the women spring to life through dialogue, body postures, and personal style, whether it’s facial piercings, flannel, or hoop earrings. Zhou’s animated depictions of youthful angst and queer desire have much to offer. (Oct.)