The Women

by Sommer Schafer

THE WOMEN, a short story collection by Sommer Schafer, tests women in everyday situations in which the challenge requires a unique, and sometimes fantastical, approach.In 'Mary and the Machine, ' the main character desperately usurps a comfort meant exclusively for her newborn. In 'My Little Pet, ' the main character finds an unusual and mysterious creature on her doorstep one morning who initially seems to offer her the love she has always desired. In 'The Women, ' a women-only book club takes a bloody turn, and in 'The Trappings, ' a new mother finds herself and her toddler lost in a wild Alaskan forest until stumbling across a cabin hiding in the woods.

240 pages, Paperback

Published November 14, 2023

About the author

Sommer Schafer is senior editor of The Forge Literary Magazine and widely published, including a Distinguished Story in Best American Short Stories 2019. She lives in Northern California on Coast Miwok land with her family, a rescue dove, and a bearded dragon.

Reviews

[Rosh ~catching up slowly~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

In a Nutshell: A short story collection about ordinary women caught in extraordinary circumstances. A nice range of plots and genres, going from grounded to speculative. Intriguing and unusual storylines. Some were a bit too metaphorical for my brain. But overall, a clever character-driven collection.

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As the title suggests, this debut collection of seventeen stories focusses on women. Women from varied backgrounds, varied familial situations, and varied age groups. What’s common to them all is that they face a challenge, not necessarily a routine one. How they tackle it forms the crux of each tale.

As we know, each person handles difficulties differently. The women in these book fall in the same boat. Some accept their fate, some rebel, some introspect, some opt for wild coping mechanisms. The resultant display covers an eclectic array of human behaviour, all of which provides ample food for a psychological study.

Though the titles of the stories seem quite typical and ordinary, the stories are anything but. Many of the tales begin with a normal scenario but soon venture into the speculative. However, even in these cases, there is a strong sense of realism to the narrative and to the women’s reactions.

Every story except one comes from the perspective of women characters. Whether written in first person or third person, we get to know the central characters intimately, to the extent that even when they take decisions that might seem shocking, we see their point of view clearly, whether we agree with it or not. The writing never feels like a debut author’s work, with its clear command over language as well as plot development.

With women at the helm of each tale, many readers might assume that the book focusses on women who are victims of their circumstances and are striving against their fate. However, not all of the lead characters are goody-goody. Many are so annoying that I just wanted to see them fall on their face. It is a credit to the author that she kept me involved in the narrative even with such entitled characters. I also appreciate how there’s no glorification of women or any jingoistic feminism in this collection just because it is focussed on women. It is refreshing to see women portrayed in all shades.

The endings are one reason why my rating got a little affected. They aren't bad, but quite a few of them left me feeling, “Don't stop here! Gimme more!” While not abrupt or open, they didn’t offer a sense of closure as well.

Another reason is that some stories *seem to be* metaphorical. I say “seem to be” because this is my kryptonite: I am pathetic at figuring out literary metaphors without external assistance. For a couple of the stories, I *think* I got the underlying intention, but a few others left me scratching my confused head. I am sure those who have a head for figurative/allegorical writing will like this book even better.

As always, I rated the stories individually. Of the seventeen stories, eight stories reached or crossed the 4 stars mark. Six stories earned 3.5 stars, with their endings being the main reason I couldn’t go higher. So it’s quite a good performance average overall.

These are my top favourites:

🎀 My Little Pet: I'm not sure if this was a metaphor for an abusive relationship, but boy o boy, it was a crazy story! The kind of story that would uncover layers upon discussion. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🎀 Mary and the Machine: Took me a while to get what's happening but the execution made total sense by the end. A clever little tale! - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🎀 The Witch of Pleasant Valley: Didn't expect this kind of witch. Enjoyed this unexpectedly funny story that still reflects our times so well. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🎀 The Youngest Son: Despite the innocuous-sounding title, this story is a mix of sad and scary. The most horrifying part of this tale is that I actually know women like these. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎀 The Women: An impressive array of women in this one, beginning with an ordinary book club and soon turning macabre. The most unusual and deserving title story. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎀 Against the Ground: Funny without meaning to be so, true to life without feeling exaggerated. Enjoyed this amusing take on new friendships. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

🎀 The Great Unraveling: A story about the transformation of a woman after motherhood. Gave me Kafka vibes, but in a much better way. For once, I understood and even loved the metaphor! I too feel like an animal at times, so I could relate to this weird story. 🤭 - ⭐⭐⭐⭐✨

🎀 An Independent Woman: Started off one way, ended another way. Enjoyed the dual narrative in contrasting style. - ⭐⭐⭐⭐

All in all, this was quite an entertaining and enriching speculative collection with a diverse range of stories, characters, and situations. I dare say, it is even better than Kristin Hannah’s book of the same title, as this one actually has multiple women in true-to-life shades, proper character development, intriguing narratives, and barely any melodrama.

Definitely recommended to short story lovers who enjoy speculative fiction. As the stories are all character-driven, they would work better for readers with a literary bent of mind.

3.75 stars, based on the average of my ratings for each tale.


My thanks to Unsolicited Press for a complimentary copy of “The Women” at my request. This review is voluntary and contains my honest opinion about the book.


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[Elisabeth Schafer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a compilation of stories that will make you squirm. They begin with recognizable events that in some stories evolve into the mystic, magical or maybe horror. The reader certainly doesn’t know where they might end up. I think we all will recognize the events in these stories and understand the myriad of experiences that one can/ will experience in living this wild and wonderful life.

[Terry Tierney · Rating 5 out of 5]

The stories in Sommer Schafer’s debut collection, The Women, are both engaging and mind-bending. Each story features a different woman, and the author effectively uses magical realism to enhance our understanding of the characters. The narrative tone tends to be objective and detached even though the action is often emotional and occasionally violent. In addition to their mesmerizing drama and painful depictions, several of the stories read like allegories with deep messages embedded in the narrative, such as the emotional experience of keeping a pet, the desire for group acceptance and fear of rejection, and the machine-like routine and draining effort of caring for a young child. Through exquisite prose and balanced narrative, these stories treat us to new perspectives and understanding. A fun and rewarding read.

[Barbara Barrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fabulous collection. I was yearning for something that would explore the beauty, strangeness, and absurdity of life and this collection gave me that. These stories are complex, unflinching, and often deeply funny in a dark way.

[Dirk · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found Sommer Schafer's debut short story collection, The Women, both challenging and rewarding, beginning somewhat out of my reading element with the first story, "My Little Pet," which initially put me off with its somewhat Kafkaesque weirdness in which the main character discovers on her doorstep an animal that doesn't resemble any species known to her: "It swiveled on its hidden haunches, tucked into a hairy round body, and looked at me with big brown eyes, long lashes stretching up to the sky. Its tiny nose twitched adorably, as if it were making sure I would be kind. Its long whiskers trembled. Well, my oh my, I thought. I extended my arm cautiously, wondering, and it climbed onto my hand, its nails sharp, and up my arm where I nestled it against my chest and it buried its little nose into my armpit. My oh my, I thought. Aren't you cute." She feeds it milk and tuna. It rumbles and smiles. The narrator doesn't know where the animal poops and pees. She buys it a litter box, but it prefers to use the toilet, flipping the lid open with its nose. And then--my oh my--this adorably cute creature one day bites into the narrator's arm, hard, with incredibly sharp teeth, and refuses to be dislodged, despite the narrator's thrashing, until "it was good and ready." Does the narrator toss the animal out of her home? Does she call animal control? Nope. She keeps it, and the biting episodes continue, and the narrator takes to wearing long-sleeved blouses in all seasons, and when she throttles the animal to stop its biting, the animal goes on a frenzy of homewrecking. And still she keeps her pet, at which point I asked myself, "What is wrong with her? Why doesn't she just get rid of it?" And then the story clicked into place, because those are the questions I've asked when women dear to me have been involved in toxic relationships. Of course.

Thus I discovered that a reading experience I initially thought wasn't my cup of tea was in fact a much stronger drink, at times intoxicating. The women of The Women are not all victims, and they are far from being stereotypes. They're from all walks of life and ends of the political spectrum, and if there is any consistency among them, it is that they are entirely human in a world in which others often don't give them credit for being entirely human. But Sommer Schafer does, and she renders them with unstinting precision and empathy, and that's what made for a rewarding read.

[Sandra · Rating 5 out of 5]

Schafer reminds me of the writer Joyce Carol Oates in how she rides a line between what is real and what is surreal in the ostensible dailiness of life. One of the questions that she leaves me with in this series of short stories is: How long do we tolerate a situation that makes us uneasy even as it becomes worse? “My Little Pet” is a classic case. Sometimes, I wondered, is this a story of horror or is it a spoof on accommodation, something women are reportedly all too ready to do? And I might add are expected to do.

“The Women” is also open to question of tone and intent. On one hand, it takes me to the macabre flavor of Shirley Jackson’s “The Lottery,” with a sense of ritualistic violence. On the other, I feel it is a dispassionate accounting of a life and its failings from the other side by our deceased protagonist. In either case, it asks us to question our assumptions about people.

I could not help but feel at home in “The Trappings,” so reminiscent of an Alaskan environment, where I have spent a good portion of my years, and of the quirky, headstrong women who live there, relatively normal in this story, it seemed to me. And from my urban perspective in California, “Joyce and the Tree” is representative of what I witness rather commonly: the righteousness people feel as they take agency to address a perceived wrong before going through more civil channels. It gave me a sardonic chuckle.

Schafer is a writer to watch. With her sharp sense of current social sensibilities, she can render human behavior in horrific or humorous flavors, sometimes both at the same time, in a well-rounded story.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

What is a woman, and what might she become? In this keenly observed collection of short stories, the question is both complex and mysterious. One woman shelters an unknown mammal in her house and falls into love and danger. Others battle for affordable housing, judge each other’s parenting in ways both petty and horrifying, and wander lost in the woods. They’re haunted by needy babies and their own disconnected mothers. They’re shaped by their natural worlds, from the soggy, dripping Northwest to the isolating wilderness of the Northeast.

The stories have a satisfying variety of style and length. Together they create a vivid examination of womanhood in the modern world. Throughout, elements of the speculative and the wild infiltrate everyday lives. Schafer’s writing is always precise and detailed, pushing the reader to reconsider what they think they know.

[Yosh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sommer Schafer is one of the best short story writers out there; definitely one of my favorites. Her writing is fabulous—her descriptions are always precise, her observations keen and interesting. And she’s subtly or laugh-out-loud funny. Whether it’s straight literary or with speculative elements, each of these stories is just plain fun to read, even when the subject matters are not so much. This collection surprise you, appall you, and make you guffaw, and allows you examine both beautiful and ugly aspects of existing in this world.

[John Haggerty · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sommer Schafer is one of our best short story writers, and this collection is a vivid demonstration of that. Always beautifully written, these stories brim with intelligence and wit. There's so much variety here, both in theme and execution, ranging from domestic suburbia to the surreal. In fact, one of my favorite stories here is is, on the surface, a horror story. But it is also much more, with many hidden depths to plumb if you choose to look beneath that glossy surface.

[Drew Obbard · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of women-centered short stories felt like they all complemented another well. Loved the eeriness of many of the stories and the way they related to women’s experiences. My favorites were “Joyce and the Tree” and “An Independent Women”.