"You Are Having a Good Time" 10 Short Stories by Amie Barrodale-Absurd,Bizarre Plausible Scenarios

Amie Barrodale's collection of 10 short stories are overflowing with unseemly, neurotic, self-destructive  & bizarre behaviors that are both peculiar & plausible.  "William Wei," the 1st story in this creative  collection.  Wei is a grandiose chauvinist who gets the tables turned on him by a woman who clandestinely & relentlessly pursues him.  When Wei becomes somewhat smitten the elusive vixen cunningly evades him.  Their quirky courtship contains the requiem drugs, sex & role playing.  Barrodale received the Paris Review Plimto Prize ('12) for this ironicaly ingratiating tale.  The ten taut stories are tethered together by a neurotic normalcy.  Each has its own bizarre & twisting plot within a credible world of craziness.  Dark truths & ugliness are pervasive with an undercurrent of random acts of kindness preventing the stories from becoming repugnant.   Barrodale's storytelling is addictive and  surprising.  Being told "you are having a good time" prepares the reader to anticipate some misery.  The outcomes are not horrific but events can be trying & anxiety producing.  There is a plethora of psychiatric professionals who treating multiples disorders & destructive behaviors:  eating too much or too little, self-loathing & narcism.  Different philosophies & customs are brusquely examined from Buddahism in Japan to Sikkim in India along with their unique customs & rituals.   "Night Report" stood out for considering adultery from different perspectives.  The story also contained circumspect coincidences in a ashram where Ema, the story's main character is both transfixed and disoriented by learning all the expected riturals.   A common theme of unconventionalities are revealed through dreamscapes or hallucinogens filling Barrodale's novel with a torrid, unexpected delights.