Because I Don't Know What You Mean and What You Don't by Josie Long
At once soothing and painful, acclaimed comedian Josie Long’s short story collection comprises characters who struggle with the inequities of daily life
A young girl pretends she is a witch for the admiration of her schoolmates. A woman lashes out in secret at her community WhatsApp group. A mother grins and bears it when her ex moves his son to her daughter’s nursery.
With Because I Don't Know What You Mean..., Josie Long writes a collection of short stories with characters that demonstrate how the world looks when one wears their heart on their sleeve – beautiful and brutal in equal measure, all sometimes within the same solitary sentence. Narrators yearn for when they were still wide-eyed, before their guards were forced way up. They are at pains to accept the cruelty of a world whose laws are unchangeable (“How can the past be the only place you can’t travel back to?”), but their struggle invites us to forgive ourselves for the same thing. A stand-up performer since the age of 14, Long has long been known for her golden retriever persona. In fiction, she shows us a more conflicted side, more unsure of herself than her rousing and often political comedy suggests.
Here is a reminder that writing – in fact, creativity of any kind – is professional lying. This book is rife with people who exploit the desires of others to believe certain truths – for personal gain, but also just to avoid detection. See me, it says. I am petty, and I am stressed, and I am human.