Crush

An unforgettable, piercingly intimate collection from a celebrated, once-in-a-generation writer whose stories are “powerhouses of feeling and depth” (Mary Gaitskill)

Across the sixteen short stories in Crush, the acclaimed poet and fiction writer Souvankham Thammavongsa makes a stunning return to the form that announced her as a major talent, drawing us into the lives of often-overlooked characters who find themselves in the grip of hope, desire, and transformation.

A child watches his father toy with a prospective affair; a couple running a restaurant struggles to fit their relationship into their new life in a new country; a woman evades her married co-worker’s advances; a cashier clashes with the mother of her new husband, a man she met only three days before their wedding. Throughout, Thammavongsa’s narrators see through façade after façade—the lies, jokes, and postures that disguise our vulnerabilities—and the many ways we betray and misunderstand each other.

With arresting clarity and precision and disarming flashes of humor and tenderness, Crush keeps us on the back foot, constantly surprising us, and bottling what is irresistible and unbearable about the search for love, connection, and belonging.