This Is Not Happening to You

In these stories—which move from the playing fields of suburban elementary schools and the shark cages of a marine lab on Bimini, to Shanghai and Paris and New Orleans—sixth grade girls pursue an anatomy lesson, a struggling actor can’t shake the haunts of a mysterious poem, a plummeting alcoholic does battle with a rat, an English poet explains the distinction between “wanker” and “tosser” . . . and nobody gets where they’re going. Sometimes they don’t even get where they are. With razor sharp language and pinpoint scene, This Is Not Happening to You concerns the kinds of lacerating events that cut deep and leave scars. (Iodine not included.)