Book Review: Current Disasters

Reviewed by Nick Gardner

At times surreal and strange, Current Disasters deftly traces the contours of loneliness and explores how connection can help shape a life.

Weighing in at a mere 100 pages, the 22 stories in Jen McConnell’s collection range in length from the short paragraph to the several page deep dive, with stories as intriguing as that of the worry transference company in “Worry, Incorporated.” 

Each story is strange in its own way. “Stuffed Peppers to Please Everybody” takes the form of a recipe, but with chef’s notes that bring out a deeper story; “The Poles of Inaccessibility” takes the reader to a solitary research station in the South Pole. Some stories are, for the most part, placeless, like “All the Kids Are in Therapy,” while others roam to specific locations like Stonehenge or span a road trip from the East Coast to Iowa. Current Disasters is a quick read that deeply explores a whole spectrum of experiences, especially the seemingly small things that can cause a life to tumble. 

The word “alone” appears sixteen times in McConnell’s manuscript with variations like “loneliness” and “by myself” showing up as well. However, as is the case in “The Uncluded,” which is set at a dinner party, the characters are often surrounded by friends and family. 

McConnell explores her characters with nuance—their anxieties and worries and inability to fit in. These characters are often excluded, or, as is the case in “American Gothic Getaway,” exclude themselves by breaking off a relationship and running away. Breakups are also a theme with an interest in finding oneself and learning to be content alone at the heart of each split. Words like “hope” also appear frequently. Though the characters often don’t find answers, by the final page of each story, there is a sense that they are at least moving away from despair. 

McConnell’s endings are not just inconclusive, but also, often, abrupt. I frequently found myself getting more and more intimate with a character, more involved in a story, only to turn the page and find the final paragraph. A jolt. The way McConnell ties up a short story is expert and surprising. A single sentence can serve as a turn, a move beyond the meat of the story and at least a hint at change. 

Many of McConnell’s stories could easily be turned into novels, featuring characters that are easy to empathize with and plots that leave the reader wanting to complete the story arc. It’s easy to imagine an entire series, for example, springing out of “Worry, Incorporated,” in which a woman is hired to take on clients’ worries for them, to actually worry so that the client can live without that worry inhibiting them. And that is just one of the many fascinating concepts that McConnell inserts into her very short fiction. This is the kind of book that roots deep in the mind and inspires consideration long after turning the final page.

I’m not going to forget these short stories. While Current Disasters satisfies enough as a single collection, it’s exciting to think about what book will come next from McConnell’s brilliant mind. 

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