You Are the Snake

The suffocating ennui of girlhood and early womanhood pervades this subtly subversive collection from Escoria (Juliet the Maniac). In “Dust Particles,” girls bond over Ninja Turtles rather than Barbies, and in “Pluck It Out,” they wear Doc Martens with pleated skirts. Often, Escoria focuses on the volatile friendship dynamics between women who jeer at societal expectations under the influence of alcohol. The unnamed narrator of “Hot Girl” recounts how her former best friend—who looked “feral... even when she was happy”—got away with attempted murder, thanks to the hold she exerted on both men and women. In “Roadkill,” a group of college-age women, each bearing the weight of unacknowledged trauma, run amok one summer, devising cruel games that culminate in a terrifying assault on a young man. “State of Emergency” finds an unhappy young couple forced to continue living together in a difficult rental market (“I had... a desire to tell him he was stupid. But what did it matter?”). Even when not much happens, Escoria vividly captures her characters’ shared worlds. These charged and often startling stories hit hard. Agent: Monika Woods, Triangle House. (June)