New Yorker Fiction Review #290: "The Last Grownup" by Allegra Goodman

Review of the short story from the Feb. 27, 2023 issue of The New Yorker...

Sometimes the best thing one can say about a short story is: "I didn't hate it." That may not exactly seem like "high praise," but for a fairly straightforward, no-nonsense, no-frills story such as this one -- centering on a brief period in the life of the main character "Debra" as she copes with her life as a divorcee -- it is.

Stories about domestic life can go in a few different ways. They can get too maudlin, attempting to make high-drama out of events (or non-events) that are not actually that dramatic. They can get too outlandish, forcing the characters to do ridiculous things in order to make the story seem interesting. And on and on and on. But rarely does a story accurately depict what it's like to be a normal, rational, emotionally stable adult (a "grownup" perhaps?) and still manage to be interesting from first to last sentence. 

Such is the small but nevertheless noteworthy achievement made by Allegra Goodman in this compact, light and yet meaningful short story.

Deb is recently divorced but not so recently that it's a surprise that her ex-husband Richard is soon to be getting re-married. Instead of this revelation hitting her like a freight train, causing her world to crumble or whatever, the whole thing seems fairly expected and Deb seems to take it in stride, thinking more about what effect it will have on her two girls than herself. 

Calling Deb the "last" grownup may not exactly be accurate. She doesn't even seem like the only grownup in this story. She is, however, indeed a grownup -- an adult -- thinking of the needs and feelings of others when its appropriate and her own, correspondingly, when that is called for. Even when she finds out that her ex- and his girlfriend/fiancee are going to have a baby together she handles it just fine. 

Maybe this is a boring story after all. I can't decide. But it is, in a way, refreshing to read a story about someone well-adjusted who goes through life's turmoil and deals with it like an adult.