Each week I review the short fiction from a recent issue of The New Yorker ...and it's yours ABSOLUTELY FREE!!! Issue: Sept. 23, 2013 Story: "Bad Dreams" Author: Tessa Hadley Plot: A little girl has a disturbing, "meta"-fictional dream about her favorite book series, in which she writes an Epilogue to the last book of the series and becomes (or begins to become) aware of her own mortality. She wakes up from the dream, goes downstairs into her parents' living room, and up-ends most of the furniture in the room, in some sort of childishly, life-affirming act. Her mother comes downstairs the next day. She is aghast at what she sees, thinking the house has been burglarized. Then she blames the mess on her husband, but doesn't yell at him though, because he's been under a lot of stress. Life goes on as usual. Review: This is at least the sixth time Tessa Hadley's fiction has appeared in the NYer and the third time in 2013 alon
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