MAN HATING PSYCHO

Scuzzy, raucous stories that take aim at sexism, racism, and gentrification.

In her first book to be published in the U.S, Baal, whose style is described in her bio as a “marrying of politics and ass,” writes about young rebels roaming London, engaging in adolescent tomfoolery, getting drunk, gossiping, and ultimately discovering their friends aren’t really their friends. Gritty and profane, these stories are marbled with deliciously slangy dialogue and irreverent lists and rants. In “Pain in the Neck,” a woman does a favor for an old friend with whom she once had “sad, gray-area sex” which she’s “probably blanked for sanity’s sake” and winds up stuck on his roof with his rich Spanish girlfriend. The formally brilliant and hilarious “Change :)” is a group text gone awry: Ed texts everyone in his address book to drum up political engagement, only to be accused of predatory sexual behavior by several women in front of dozens of people, many of whom claim not to know him. A story titled “Victim Blaming” marks a change in the collection, as an older narrator—a woman who also happens to be a writer—takes over. More essayistic than dramatic, these pieces reveal the narrators’ blind spots: In one, a woman falls for a sexist pig after avowing that she’s done having sex with men; another realizes that by spending so many years rebelling against her parents, she’s actually kept them in the center of her life. The standout is “Married to the Streets,” which ends with a knock-your-socks-off surprising description of Grenfell, the West London residential tower that burned down in 2017, killing more than 70 people. Here, the narrator comes to terms with how much she loves her city, though she also loathes how it’s changing. While some of Baal’s stories suffer from a little of the aimlessness that besets her characters, they’re all good, unruly fun.

Stories that take you on a tour of grungy London with a guide who slips in dagger-sharp social commentary.