"The Dive Bar," by Katherine Heiny, is about Sasha, who writes YA novels. She is drawn to her boyfriend because he enjoys solving the kinds of plot riddles you encounter when you write for teens:
How do I get the entire cast of characters onto an uninhabited island--without access to transportation--stranded for the entirety of Act Three (five to eight days)?
Sasha is "the other woman," but this isn't a morality story. It's really about being dumb in your mid-twenties. Sasha's dear friend is drifting--but she can't acknowledge this. She signals her dawning sense of disapproval just by subtly, but emphatically, empathizing with the abandoned wife. "She must be feeling so terrible that she invested so many years, and so much energy--gave it all to this man, and he can't even try to to be honest with her...."
There is probably a "friend breakup" on the horizon, but for now, Sasha will enjoy what she has. She and her buddy sample all the dive bars on Broadway; the friend walks north from 63rd, and Sasha walks south from 104th, and they drink in any bar that is close to the point where their two journeys intersect.
The other fascinating piece of Sasha's psyche: she agrees to meet with the married woman whose life she has ostensibly ruined. When she tries to understand her own reasons for agreeing, she realizes she mainly wants material. She is curious about human behavior. She wants to witness the inevitable fireworks display, because (maybe) she will later get a chance to write about it.
Heiny doesn't ask you to "like" Sasha, but she does test you. Can you recall being impetuous in your twenties? Is your understanding of the range of human behavior perhaps a little deeper, more nuanced, than what even you yourself are aware of?
Great story.
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