WHIRL OF BIRDS

Andreasen’s collection of short stories presents fantastical characters with relatable troubles.

The opening story “My Big Man” follows an unnamed, cave-dwelling character from adolescence through puberty and into motherhood, before a descent into chaos, establishing the author’s unique voice. Readers witness her trading her “big man” (her father) for her “man” (mate), and later grieving the loss of her childhood and her baby, who’s the indirect victim of an extended famine. In just a handful of pages, Andreasen sketches a relatable life, reeling readers in with familiarity and warmth, and then snapping them back into reality with a gentle reminder that the narrator would later be known as a “Neander-Thal”: “I can tell death even from a distance,” she thinks to herself while drawing readers close as witnesses to her end. Andreasen’s intimate storytelling carries through 17 more stories. In “The Puppet Show,” a bitter puppeteer tries to drown his regrets with alcohol, shutting himself away in his theater from the sobering post-communist setting that surrounds him. In his bubble, life is colorful and almost surreal, flirting with the whimsy one might expect from his occupation; however, he also single-mindedly works on his craft. Depictions of obsession are revealed to be Andreasen’s most powerful weapon; it’s the downfall of nearly every protagonist as their passion bleeds into preoccupation, usually at the cost of precious time—whether it’s in a story about a sculpture of a woman (“Mahogany”), rats (“The Return”), or the pressures of being “the only true cowboy in Upstate New York” in the final work, “Warner’s Caddy.” Even in the titular tale, a woman escapes the tension of traffic by watching a flock of black birds overhead, which effectively goes from being a welcome distraction—a quiet image of everyday magic—to a devastating, life-defining moment. Andreasen also ably brings attention to the dangers of daydreaming—another theme to which she often returns.

Expertly told tales that offer glimpses into the lives of isolated characters.