BUGSY

Short stories that explore identity and difference.

Frumkin offers portraits of characters who don’t know how they fit in. The settings range from New York City to rural hinterlands, but they all feature a protagonist seeking to understand their own identity and struggling to find authentic connection in an often-inimical world. The title story is told from the perspective of a college dropout trying to figure out a way to survive in Chicago. The narrator’s life takes a turn when a woman who stars in and produces porn takes an interest in them and, eventually, invites them to join her household. What begins as a liberating experience leads to a psychotic break. Or maybe it’s more accurate to say that the protagonist experiences a psychotic break while engaged in sex work. Mental illness and sex work are recurring themes. In “Fugato,” a psychiatrist loses his grip on reality. “Like and Subscribe” is the story of a cam girl. In all of these narratives, the author seems to be mistaking taboo—or ostensibly taboo—topics for actual substance. “On the Inside” is difficult to critique at the level of aesthetics. It’s told from the point of view of an autistic child named Benny and his mother. In an author’s note, Frumkin writes, “As a neurodivergent person, my goal in writing this story was to expose the harmful practices that impact the autistic community,” but adding that, in giving Benny a voice, he is not trying to speak for nonverbal autistic people. Given that autistic people have begun, in the last several years, to insist that they can speak for themselves, the author’s suggestion that his own neurodivergence gives him license may not persuade all readers. None of these stories reads as if it’s finished—“Fugato,” especially, ends on a note that feels like the author was just done writing. Frumkin has written two well-received novels—The Comedown (2018) and Confidence (2023)—but these stories aren’t up to their level.

A largely unsatisfying collection from a skilled writer.