Ad Parnassum

This collection from Weber (The Life Swap) includes an experimental novella and two short stories. The eponymous novella expands a single paragraph into a longer story through nested layers of footnotes. A reader can go through the story in a conventional manner (it is easy to retain the nuance of previous sections) or jump around through the footnotes, though the ease of doing that is questionable. The story itself is about a young man and woman who meet on a train in Switzerland; they are both American, though she pretends not to be, and she is struggling with her relationship with her boyfriend, Michael. Throughout the footnotes, readers learn about her history, and the history of her seatmate, and then finally her life-changing decision. The other two stories are short and unsettling, and are more successful than the novella. The first, “Might Have Been,” is about a mother who discusses her long-ago abortion with her children and sees a sign offering to put her in touch with her fetus. When she calls, she careens into an alternate life where she had the baby. In the second story, “A Name for It,” a woman is convinced her ex-husband is invading her dreams on purpose. Weber’s work shines more in the short stories than in the novella, which can be frustrating, primarily because of the structure. Still, the writing in all three works is rich with action and conflict, and it encourages readers to burrow deeper into the hidden layers of meaning. (Dec.)