Bad Thoughts: Stories

As the title suggests, Alic’s debut collection of short stories take place mostly through the “bad” thoughts of the narrators—privileged West Coast millennial women who have friendships that enrage them and relationships that bore them, and they live in a world that is indifferent to them. With the author reading the audiobook and each story having a similar literary voice, it can be difficult to differentiate the stories from one another. However, the overarching omniscient narrator contains multitudes and has an ironic sense of humor that keeps listeners engaged. Between each story are interstitials that mainly consist of one-line observations that showcase Alic’s humor. The nuances of the interpersonal relationships feel real despite some surreal plots. This doesn’t mean the relationships are without toxicity or that the characters are particularly likable, but overall, they reveal that women’s interior life is often messy, dark, and unconventional. Alic wrote what she knows for her debut, and she succeeded.