“A Challenge You Have Overcome”
by Allegra Goodman
from the January 25, 2021 issue of The New Yorker

It’s been a while since we last got a story from Allegra Gooman in The New Yorker. The last was “F.A.Q.s” in September 2017. I like her work a lot, so I’m looking forward to this one. I think the opening paragraph is promising and intriguing.

They were a family of long marriages. You might sleep in separate bedrooms and wash dishes in a fury. You might find a moldy peach in the refrigerator and leave it on the counter for three days as evidence in some private trial—but you would never leave. Dan and Melanie had been married for thirty years. Steve and Andrea were coming up on twenty-five. Andrea felt a certain vindication about this anniversary because she had married in, and her own parents had split when she was young.

I’m planning to settle into this one later tonight and will post my thoughts below. If you’re so inclined, please let me know your thoughts as well!

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