Today a Woman Went Mad in the Supermarket | Hilma Wolitzer

We all are living in our routines. They are not static routines. They are changing slowly, often without us noticing. I don't know when I started taking a different route to work. And I used to spend more time reading—where did that go? But every once in a while, we experience a disruption. Something throws us off—a metaphorical curveball that won't let us continue in the same way. We can become open to new opportunities or simply aware of the patterns we have been falling into for months. Or years.

This book collects thirteen short stories of such disruptions. All of them center female characters, often the same woman at different times throughout her life. Sometimes the disruptions are up close and personal, like a death in the family, becoming pregnant, or being visited by the husband's ex-wife. Other times they are more diffuse, like rumors of a "sex maniac" spreading around the neighborhood, or a sleepless night spent wandering the apartment.

The stories take a distinctly female perspective, focusing on aspects of womanhood, like sexuality, marriage, motherhood, or domestic work. Especially the inclusion of this last one might give pause. But the stories were originally published between 1966 and 2020, capturing not just the author's perspective but also the world at these points in time. They do not, however, allow us to follow the development of Wolitzer's writing skill, as it is superb throughout. She vividly describes the usual with all its texture and then effortlessly ties the extraordinary back into it, as if the two had been entangled from the start. If you are looking to be pushed out of a rut, you can wait to find an anonymous letter somebody wrote to caution your neighbors about you—or you can read this book.

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