Comments
  1. The AtlanticLauren Groff1/14/2036 min
    8 reads5 comments
    9.8
    The Atlantic
    8 reads
    9.8
    You must read the article before you can comment on it.
    • bill
      Top reader of all time
      4 years ago

      Oh God. Yes.

      I’m SO stoked that The Atlantic is publishing fiction now. This short story is a 10. It’s Mean Girls, but all grown up.

      Lauren Groff FTW. I always think about Obama when I read Groff, because I know how much he loves her.

      Spoilers: I loved the Hamlet-esque spy scene, where Nic hides in the bar eavesdropping. I loved everything about Dagmar. And I reallllly loved these lines, which drop like an axe, about 70% of the way through, when you know... this is about to get HELLA sexy:

      You know I’d give you anything, Nic said. / Please do, Birdie said. / Nic took a deep breath, and she told Birdie the long version of the story, parceling out all the details she’d savored these years.

      • erica4 years ago

        I just looked up the email I sent you with my favorite quotes from Fates and Furies and found this:

        And I thought, What am I doing with my life? And I thought, Am I a good person or a bad person or just a person? And I thought, Am I powerful or weak? And I thought, Now’s maybe not the time...And I thought, Let’s pretend powerful, just for now.

    • erica4 years ago

      she was finished—finally, for good—with trying to please people she didn’t care about.

      they looked at all the world as though they were eating it up and it was the most delicious thing they’d ever tasted

      I didn’t mourn for any of it, because you can’t mourn for a dream.

    • Alexa4 years ago

      This was wonderful, YES!

    • jeff4 years ago

      Excellent short story! Incredibly immersive.