Full of honest but not overly sentimental emotion, Selected
Blackouts is a strong debut collection of short stories based
mainly on adolescence and young adulthood. A blackout theme ties the
book together subtly but neatly. “How Much Do They Know?” is a
painfully detailed interior monologue about romance and secrets within
a group of friends, over Christmas dinner. “Wedding” reveals a
character simply by describing a reality-TV show through her eyes.
Covering territory from blackouts during babysitting jobs to
incompatible vegetarianism, bush parties and awkward visits home for
the holidays, Goldbach’s stories are concise and often uncomfortably
raw.
This article appears in Nov 12-18, 2009.