A few weeks ago I checked out Sigrid Nunez’s 2023 novel The Vulnerables, but it’s still sitting unread on my nightstand. I bring that up just to indicate that I have been wanting to get to know her work, even if I haven’t quite delved in yet. Here’s a good opportunity! I enjoyed the first section and am looking forward to finishing it later today.

Here is how it begins:

“What I want to know,” the woman said to the therapist, “is why the voices always say mean, terrible things. Why don’t they ever say things like ‘You’re a good person. You’re a great, smart, wonderful guy, your life matters, and you deserve to be happy’? I mean, instead of saying, ‘You’re no good, your life is worthless, everyone hates you, you should hurt yourself, you deserve to be hurt, you deserve to die.’

“Even worse,” the woman went on, “why do the voices always say things like ‘Go shove some innocent stranger in front of an oncoming train’? Instead of, like, ‘How about helping that little old lady with her bags?'”

The therapist is attending a party with people he doesn’t know, and this woman — thirtyish he thinks — is the Greensleeves of the title.

As I said, I haven’t read too much yet, but I’m intrigued. Please share your thoughts below!