A Manual for How to Love Us: Stories

Poet Slaughter’s gritty debut fiction collection (after The Sorrow Festival) follows protagonists grappling with longing and loss. In “Anywhere,” narrator Andrea reunites with her friend Zell after five years apart and accepts Zell’s invitation to go on a road trip. The trip’s parameters are vague at the outset; Andrea, who’s long been in love with Zell, is excited for the chance to “run away” with her, and Andrea wonders if Zell is trying to evade someone. Not only is the trip lacking in fun, though, it ends in gunfire. “You Too Can Cure Your Life” follows Melody, who peddles a dubious and possibly harmful medicine called Life Cure online and meets a woman from Guatemala who’s been taking Life Cure, and whose partner left her after her cancer diagnosis. In “Nest,” two sisters cope with the recent death of their father. The 16-year-old narrator dates an older guy, while her younger sister, Kate, doesn’t eat. Meanwhile, the narrator thinks their father’s ghost has taken up residence in her hair, but doesn’t tell Kate. Taken as a whole, the amount of suffering faced by the characters makes the book feel one-note, though there are plenty of inviting lyrical descriptions (here’s Andrea from “Anywhere,” recounting the trip: “Miles and miles of night, the darkness like a fleece blanket”). Those who can power through the pervading gloom will appreciate Slaughter’s storytelling chops. (Mar.)