How to act around Ilka now that Jimmy’s dead?

(from The New Yorker, Oct. 2, 2006)

Maybe I shoulda read the short author bio first. Then I woulda known this is part of a collection of interconnected stories. Then I might not have felt like the cavalcade of names, some ridiculous, was so jarring. Of course the story was intended to stand on its own. So, yeah, it was jarring in the beginning, being introduced to the Ayes and Zees, the Cohns and Stones. And they weren’t distinct enough to keep track of. But anyway, I followed along okay, and the story was a quick, fast-paced read and inspired thinking, so props.