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Sigrid Nunez: COVID Diaries

 "The Vulnerables" concerns a woman, Sigrid, who is looking back on her life. She feels some regret about never having started a family; she confesses, to the reader, that she has always suspected she cannot sustain a romantic relationship. "I tried dating someone wildly different from the last person, then another wildly different, and another, and nothing would stick."


As a writer, Sigrid takes pleasure in contrarian thinking. For example, she has some questions about consent. She understands that, now, she should interrupt a romantic encounter to ask about each next step. "Can I put my hand here? And here? And here?" She doesn't dismiss the wisdom of this thinking. But what if there is loud music? What if my partner has asked to be tied up and whipped--and I mistake a "no" for a moan of pleasure? Sigrid goes on to wonder about "safe words." Why can't the word simply be "stop"? Because, in role-playing, "stop" could sometimes mean "go on." But if that's true, couldn't it be true, also, of an arbitrary safe word? If my safe word is "red," and I shout "RED!" isn't it possible that I might be play-acting? Couldn't my "RED!" secretly mean...."GO ON!"

Sigrid agrees to watch the parrot of a wealthy, stranded friend--during COVID. But the *first* guardian--a troubled twentysomething--reemerges on the scene, and Sigrid finds herself in an unwanted domestic scenario with this kid. He mansplains--again and again--about the sin of overconsumption, the cruelty of many forms of pet ownership, the virtues of veganism. He breaks "good roommate" rules. He lies about his custody of a certain key--and he rarely seems to consider the thoughts and feelings of other people.

Sigrid finds this kid insufferable--in part because he reminds her of herself. In the strangeness of COVID, she becomes a kind of parent to the kid; this was a life that had seemed unavailable to her, but New York City has a way of disrupting expectations.

I tend to identify immediately with this writer's weird, literary narrators--and the new book is not an exception. I care deeply about the two main characters--and I worry about them even when I'm not reading their story. This is a magic trick. What a treat to discover "The Vulnerables," which deserves a second or third re-reading.
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