“Ambrose”
by Allegra Goodman
from the September 30, 2024 issue of The New Yorker
Allegra Goodman has been publishing stories in The New Yorker since 1991 including a handful over the past 15 years (the time I’ve been posting these). I have usually really liked her work, with “Vita Nuova” really standing out to me even after 14 years.
“Ambrose” begins:
Lily wants to live in the old days. Her mom, Debra, says, No, you don’t, because in the old days all women did was cook and sew and die in childbirth, but Lily still wishes she could travel back in time. Her older sister, Sophie, says, Stop, you just hate school, and that is true. Lily hates sixth grade. However, Lily hates other things, too, like parties and kissing games and boys keeping score. Guess what? Sophie says. There were parties in the old days, too.
I hope you’re all enjoying this first week of fall! Please feel free to comment below to let us know your thoughts on the story!
The only person who seems to be wholly supportive of Lily is her teacher. Look at all the criticism and impositions Lily is gets from all around. Her parents care, but don’t understand, and have their own agendas. Her sister is antagonistic. The assistant principal is doing her job, which is no help. Her dance teacher is a problem. Her tutor and therapist mean well, but are little help. She doesn’t seem to have any close friends…
I can very much relate to not liking the time I’m living in. Maybe I’m attached to some what we have now, but I like what I know of my grandparents’ generation, and never would have wanted what I would have missed. The oldest relatives I knew well were Grammy’s sister and Grampy, who were born 1874 and 1875. They lived in rural areas in my state, hundreds of miles from cities of even 100,000. They had good lives, loving families, endured the Depression, and lived to about 90. Nothing horrible in their lives, such as described in this story.
I liked the idea of the story, but was hoping for more *something—not necessarily “resolution”, but – I don’t know what. It ends with the substitute dance teacher expressing a positive direction. Okay, but not enough. I would have liked more of Lily’s swan story. I hope Goodman completes and publishes it? If she can make it “good”, that is.
My New Yorker subscription recently ended. I had been paying their lowest rate for years. Previous years I had been picking up most issues free from the library recycle/exchange bin, which became less dependable. Because I’m dirt poor. I asked, but TNY wouldn’t extend the low rate any longer. I thought maybe I’d let it go. I had been reading it less and less, anyway.
But when it comes down to it, I’m addicted. Not as much for articles—good, but I can find enough articles elsewhere, and there’s public and community radio, including the New Yorker Hour. But much as I’ve complained about the stories, I’d hate now to be deprived of access, largely because of Mookse & Gripes! I also do the crossword, and there are the book reviews, and not to forget the cartoons…
So I searched for a discount deal, and found one for 50% more than I was paying. In a year I’ll be confronting this again. In the delay, I missed getting the Sept 30 issue. So I read and listened simultaneously online to Ambrose. I’ll be glad to read stories on paper again.
I love this story. The present time protagonist, Lily, writes about a secret swan princess, who has to do a regular job during the day for her medieval family’s business because she’s living in an ancient paternalistic society.
The structure of this story is so keenly set down in Bronxville or Westchester above Manhattan juxtaposed against a much older world that even now isn’t so very different.
Such a cool fantasy novel unwinds in modern time. And like many older novelists, Lily needs to write whenever she has a free moment. It just seems so incredibly difficult for a young lady to be allowed to grow into becoming a major writer in the overly competitive book world of today.
Lily seems like a young Natalie Portman, who holds her ground against all obstacles just like our best heros always do.
This is such an inspirational story for readers and writers, definitely one of the best in The New Yorker this year. It is a perfect short story.
And Eddie sort of illustrated it’s theme with his resolved for now New Yorker subscription dilemma.