How to Get Along Without Me

How to Get Along Without Me is a collection that summons the perversity and poignance of twentysomething dating lives from a bracingly wry and honest new literary voice. In a world designed for couples, the protagonists of these interconnected stories have easy access to acquaintances with benefits but no paths to emotional intimacy. Casey is sleeping with two very differently wrong-for-her guys, but both named Josh and both allergic to her cat. In a post-breakup haze, Alix sees someone new though only for sex--and only on Wednesdays. And Lila actually has a good boyfriend, but she fantasizes about her ex and about an assistant principal at the school where they all teach. In scene after scene, Kate Axelrod bores into can't-get-started-with-you trouble through stories that inhabit a Venn overlap of Kristen Roupenian's "Cat Person" danger, Mary Gaitskill's Bad Behavior erotic discontent, and Katherine Heiny's Single, Carefree, Mellow heart. These character's grasp at romantic connections and lose them, yet are given space by Axelrod to mourn and try again. Readers of How to Get Along Without Me get to enjoy the messiness of dating in one's late 20's from the safe sidelines of this mesmerizing collection.