Drift

In this loosely interlinked collection, Victoria Patterson, (who grew up in Newport Beach), explores the often invisible underside of this exceedingly privileged and affluent community, through the moving stories of the waiters and waitresses, divorced and single parents, and alienated teens who all, in some way, find themselves on the outside looking in. Interspersed throughout are stories about Rosie, one of Newport Beach's keenest observers, as over the course of the collection we witness her evolution from lonely only child, haunted by her parents' divorce, to precocious (through also heartbreakingly vulnerable) teenager, to alcoholic college student and eventual career waitress. "In Winter Formal: A Night of Magic" we witness Rosie and her best friend Chris, a tennis star, get all dressed up for a high school dance, only to find themselves drunk and preyed upon by their older college-boy dates before they ever make it there. Rosie's Newport Beach is also haunted by John Wayne, a beautiful skateboarder whom she befriends in adolescence, whose recreational drug habits have left him with limited mental faculties and living on the streets, and whose reassuring--if erratic--presence mitigates her loneliness. Deceptively powerful, Patterson's stories offer a frank and unprecedented glimpse at life in Newport Beach. They go down so easy that it's almost a surprise to realize the degree of raw emotion and darkness that they reveal. Drift should hopefully find an audience amongst fans of the young female writers exploring female friendship and what it means to be an outsider, writers like ZZ Packer, Julie Orringer, and Nell Freudenberger.


Genre: Literary Fiction