Weak Teeth by Lynsey May
Lynsey May's debut Weak Teeth is an exercise in voyeuristic pleasure, exploring the way one woman's life falls apart in small and big ways
Ellis’ life is falling apart. Her boyfriend of a decade has left her for a coworker and kicked her out of the flat they shared; she has no money or job security; her oblivious mother has plunged into a relationship with a younger man and her sister is angrier than ever. As if that isn’t enough, there is something wrong, again, with her ever-troublesome teeth.
Lynsey May’s debut taps into the voyeuristic pleasure of watching someone make all the wrong decisions, of witnessing – either with disbelief or recognition – another person’s attempt at coping with change and dysfunctional relationships. The extended metaphor hits the mark: like decaying teeth, trauma and mental illness also have deep unseen roots, and the consequences of leaving them unattended can be excruciatingly painful.
May has a keen eye for the manifestation of emotional complexity in all human interaction and a talent for dramatising it. Ellis’ anxiety, rage and paranoia jump out of the page with such vigour that it becomes almost easy to overlook the general flatness of the rest of the characters, who obediently serve the story but don’t do much more. Weak Teeth is compulsively readable, darkly funny, lighthearted and infuriating at times. It is an intimate look into the crumbling life of a woman as she rummages through the wreckage for the strength to bite back.