Karin Lin-Greenberg centers each story in “Vanished: Stories” around a girl or woman who feels unseen, misunderstood, or underestimated.
The anguished protagonists range from Alice, a 60-something art professor at Juniper College in Ilium who is being ignored by both her students and fellow professors in “Still Life” to awkward tween Meredith being frozen out and bullied by former friend Cori in “Aquatic.”
No matter their age, education level, or family/friendship dynamic, every story demonstrates the difficulties faced by people in trying to be authentic to themselves while gaining the respect of people in their daily lives.
The two stand-out works are “Roland Raccoon” and “Migration.” In “Roland Raccoon,” young, inexperienced teacher Mia Gardner wrestles with maintaining control of her eighth-grade class, especially popular bully Brianna. The back-and-forth reflected through Ms. Gardner’s biased perspective paints one picture of Brianna, while the ending shows that the child is more complicated than her teacher knows.
Meanwhile, the collection’s concluding contribution, “Migration,” offers an affecting portrait of multi-generational family dysfunction as three grown daughters attempt to help their hoarder mother clean up her filthy home and address her nearly 70 exotic indoor birds.
Unlike the other narratives, “Migration” is told in omniscient third-person allowing for readers to read insights from all three daughters-Vanessa, Julianne and Jillian-and their mother Constance leading to a deeper appreciation of the hurt and understanding they all feel.
While each story is independent, several are set in the small fictional town of Galalville, New York. “Housekeeping” and “Lost or Damaged” showcase the advantages and limitations that the upstate NY area provides its residents. The description of the denizens drives many simple, moving and powerful moments in Lin-Greenberg’s work.
Short Stories in Collection
Stories in the Collection
“Still Life”
“Housekeeping”
“Roland Raccoon”
“Vanished”
“Perspective for Artists”
“Since Vincent Left”
“Aquatics”
“Lost or Damaged”
“Mrs. Whitson’s Face”
“Migration”
Lin-Greenberg’s characters are deliberately ordinary and often self-involved and oblivious to the complications their wants and needs cause for others, at least until much later. In “Since Vincent Left” and “Vanishing,” neither woman realizes her boundary crossing and inability to apologize has ended a marriage in the former and a potential long term friendship in the latter.
“Perspective for Artists” and “Mrs.Whitson’s Face” draw attention to how students often harshly misjudge their teachers as they project their insecurities and hopes for the future onto them.
Another commonality among the characters is that several work as underpaid and taken-for-granted academics. This is present in “Still Life,” “Perspective for Artists,” “Since Vincent Left,” and “Mrs. Whitson’s Face” wherein a female student either neglects to follow directions from her instructor, openly resents the adult, or mocks the elder’s efforts to help. It isn’t until the story’s ending that the naive central figures come to understand they have undervalued the advice and guidance from the person paid to guide them.
Whether from the perspective of a lonely adolescent or an older woman who believes she’s disrespected, all characters in Lin-Greenberg’s “Vanished: Stories” present complex, multi-layered heroines whose travails will give readers a lot of food for thought.
Final Thoughts
This 10-story collection won the Raz/Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Fiction in 2022 from the University of Nebraska Press. All the stories feature flawed female characters whose actions and inactions may frustrate readers.
I gave two of the 5 stars and six stories between 3 and 4 stars. For my reading time, the longer stories with more character development and a stronger structure were more enjoyable to read as connections to the characters and their struggles are clearer.
For these reasons, I would recommend “Vanished” to fans of short stories, particularly those who thrive on reading about regular women living ordinary, conflict-riddled lives. I have included my rating for every story as well as an average rating for the book as a whole.
“Still Life” 3.50 stars
“Housekeeping” 4.25 stars
“Roland Raccoon” 5.00 stars
“Vanished” 3.75 stars
“Perspective for Artists” 4.00 stars
“Since Vincent Left” 3.50 stars
“Aquatics” 3.75 stars
“Lost or Damaged” 3.50 stars
“Mrs. Whitson’s Face” 3.50 stars
“Migration” 5.00 stars
Rating
My rating is 4 stars out of five.
Book Details
Book Title: “Vanished: Stories”
Author: Karin Lin-Greenberg
Year of Pubication: 2022
Number of Pages: 202
