Property: Stories Between Two Novellas

In this collection of ten stories sandwiched between two novellas, Shriver explores what it means to own and not own everything from belongings to housing to even one’s self. In “The Standing Chandelier,” an artist’s quarter-century close friendship with a former lover irks his insecure fiancée. In “Domestic Terrorism,” a thirty-something son steadfastly refuses to get a job and leave his parents’ home. In “Kilifi Creek,” a carefree young woman abuses her hosts’ hospitality while vacationing until a close call forces her to reconsider her perspective. And in “The Subletter,” a pair of American expat writers in Belfast feud over who has more right to live in and write about the city while uncomfortably sharing a flat.

Far too often, short story collections are marred by both maddening inconsistencies from one story to the next as well as an annoying tendency for stories to peter out toward the end. In Property, Shriver deftly avoids both of these pitfalls. While some pieces stand out more than others, there is a unity of theme and purpose here. Her endings are also resolute and often appropriately flavored with a cruelly ironic twist.

This is not to say that the collection grows repetitive. The stories vary considerably in setting, transporting readers everywhere from London to New York to North Carolina and Kenya, all with a reasonable degree of verisimilitude. Similarly, Shriver deploys narrators both young and old, male and female. What unites them all is a sense of being dispossessed: of the comforts of home, of parental authority, of common courtesy, and more. Shriver uses her savage wit to lampoon lazy and self-involved millennials, the permissive generation that preceded them, pretentious would-be artists, and all other manner of rootless wanderers through life. Her blunt critiques come across as excessively mean-spirited at times and the absence of likable characters can prove exhausting in large doses, but on balance, there is enough dark humor and insight to render Property a worthwhile read.

8/10