VANISHED

A rich tapestry of stories set in upstate New York.

The stories here are seemingly unrelated except for their geography. But the shared themes of regret, dissatisfaction, loneliness, and connection make this collection feel interwoven and purposeful. Some stories are more successful than others, and the poignancy of "Migration," "Lost or Damaged," and the titular "Vanished" make the stumbles (such as the unsatisfying "Since Vincent Left") more noticeable. That said, in bite-sized tales, Lin-Greenberg mostly gives us multidimensional characters. In "Roland Raccoon," there's a teacher who can’t distance herself from her adolescent mean-girl experiences; "Vanished" features a college student who won’t bring herself to welcome her roommate but later clings to the first words that roommate wrote her when the pandemic (and a murder they witnessed) separated them; and in "Migration," a hoarding woman who is just attached enough to reality dismisses the thought that her estranged daughter might be visiting the family to ask for an organ donation: “She wouldn’t want a part of any of them floating around inside her body.” Overall, the success of this book is most apparent in the endings. Lin-Greenberg does not wrap up her stories neatly with bows. Instead she shows the reader a more truthful and profound reality: characters who don’t get the chance to redeem themselves and stories that leave more questions unanswered than not: “Now, when I look back on my early years, it’s not what I did that I regret, but rather how much I did not do.”

Thoughtful, wry, and bittersweet.