What If We Were Somewhere Else

by Wendy J. Fox

From the critically acclaimed author of If The Ice Had Held , The Seven Stages of Anger and Other Stories , and The Pull of It ,   comes  What If We Were Somewhere Else. 

"Wendy J. Fox delivers a realistic, emotionally driven set of interlinked stories. Relatable, affecting, and at times absurd, this collection is for anyone who has felt frustrated at work." - Booklist Starred Review

"Fox's prose is laced with tenderness, exploring lives measured in acceptance, kindness and connection. Even while moving insightfully through the more alienating facets of office culture — networking parties, breakroom concerns — Fox invests most of all in what makes us people over those closely held moments pregnant with change, when a new life could break open if we just reach for the person next to us." - New York Times
 
What If We Were Somewhere Else is a tragicomic new collection of linked short stories that follows the characters from strip clubs to booze cruises, through failing marriages and bad management, and even on a journey to the moon.

"In this connected collection of stories, Wendy J. Fox introduces us to an engaging medley of office coworkers, as well as their families, friends, and lovers. Fox's memorable narrations, ranging from eccentric to evocative, side-splitting to shocking, had me smiling, pondering, and turning the pages for more." - Cynthia Swanson, New York Times bestselling author of The Bookseller and The Glass Forest

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

194 pages, Paperback

Published November 1, 2021

About the author

Wendy J. Fox is the author of four books of fiction, including the novel If the Ice Had Held and the forthcoming collection What If We Were Somewhere Else.

She has written for The Rumpus, Buzzfeed, Self, Business Insider, and Ms., and her work has appeared in literary magazines including Washington Square, Euphony, and Painted Bride Quarterly. More at www.wendyjfox.com.

Reviews

[Mark Stevens · Rating 5 out of 5]

And you may ask yourself, “Well, how did I get here?”

That’s a line from The Talking Heads’ “Once In A Lifetime.”

It’s the underlying tug of Wendy J. Fox’s new short story collection, What If We Were Somewhere Else. (Note there’s no question mark in the title; it’s a statement—an assertion. A comment.)

Well, how did I get here? How did we get here? How much control do we have? Are we in charge?

What If We Were Somewhere Else is about work, that “constantly unavoidable thing that surrounds us.” The stories follow office workers from an unnamed business in downtown Denver. If the business had a thousand workers, you get the sense that Fox could write a thousand stories and show us their individual humanity, foibles, desires, traits, wants, and needs. Fox cycles through seven principal characters, the stories intertwine in a tight and intricate braid.

What If Were Somewhere Else is about technology versus organic matter. It’s about work-life balance. It’s about affairs and longing. It’s about work as identity, relationships as identity. It’s about finding your spot in the universe. It’s about a cranky, clunky air conditioner—well, H-vack system. It’s about comfort and becoming comfortable. It’s about manmade things that go haywire. It’s about becoming untethered from routine. It’s about working. And not working. (Another line from that song: Into the blue again, after the money’s gone…)

Fox crawls inside the heads of her characters and administers truth serum. In “Pivot, Table” it’s boss Kate: “I’m not sure if it was worse to sign the separation papers, or if it was worse to sign the severance papers at my job. We hide from our marriages inside of work, or we hide from our work inside of our marriages, and then when both are gone, it’s like the those dreams we had in elementary school, naked on the playground.”

In “The Empathy Chart,” it’s about financial analyst Heather, who has broken her foot while walking home from work: “This is not like me, and on the last bumps of steps towards the front door, I am unmoored. I remind myself I have weighed the risks. I remind myself that I am unhappy with an unhappiness much bigger and much harder to deal with than a broken ankle. The ankle will heal, eventually. Even if it does require surgery after the twenty-nine more days until the cast comes off, there is a plan in place.”
Fox’s style is unfussy, clear-eyed, and efficient—fifteen brisk stories in less than 200 pages. The details are delicious. “I don’t remember so much about him, but I don’t remember nothing. It wasn’t dramatic when he left. One day he was there, and the next day he wasn’t. I had this cereal bowl with a bear’s face in the bottom of it that I really liked, and sometimes he’d use it for an ashtray. One of the bears eyes was burned out, but I still ate from it.”

Okay, one more example, the opening lines of “Tornado Watch:”

“In our home there were sounds. One of the sounds was like a balloon slowly deflating, a sound of almost nothing, of air being displaced, and I am not sure if we knew it was the canary in the coal mine of our marriage, which we were not paying much attention to. So we did not worry about it in particular, we only complained about the unplaceable noise. We checked the fridge and all of the other major appliances, we checked the HVAC system, we poked around outside the house and found nothing, but we kept hearing this slow, gentle wishing punctuated occasionally by a squeak, or the call of a suffocating bird.”

(Not the only H-vack system in these stories. Or respirator. Or other mechanical breathing apparatus.)

And then comes “The Human” and we leap ahead into a bit of sci-fi with moon colonists and yet the basic issues are the basic issues—food, shelter, air, safety, procreation, and the issue of controlling your own fate. Something has shifted dramatically in how people live on Earth; urban centers have been abandoned. Hemp instead of dairies, soy instead of feedlots. We follow Michael as he’s recruited to join the colonists and then, when matters go awry there, it’s off to Mars. And another fate. When it comes to life decisions, life choices—who do you trust? And how far will you go?

Same as it ever was.

Same as it ever was.

Reading What If We Were Somewhere Else is highly recommended. So is pondering the insightful questions it raises.

[Jypsy · Rating 5 out of 5]

RTC!

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this connected collection of stories, Wendy J. Fox introduces us to an engaging medley of office coworkers, as well as their families, friends, and lovers. Fox’s memorable narrations, ranging from eccentric to evocative, side-splitting to shocking, had me smiling, pondering, and turning the pages for more.

[Lori]

So thrilled to be working with Wendy to promote her upcoming collection of interconnected stories. Work and life balance, love and lust and broken hearts, are all at the forefront of this fabulous book! Get it on the TBR, and message me here for a copy if you'd like to review it or interview Wendy!!!

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

This really walks a line between being connected stories and just a straight up novel with shifting perspectives. Which is great, because I love it no matter what you call it. This is a real gem that rocked my world and now I want her to write everything forever.

[Jeane · Rating 3 out of 5]

In general I have enjoyed the book but each story on its own wasn't satisfying enough. Some more than others.
There is a connection between all of them, but not enough it seems to be of much value to the book. I also had the feeling that there wasn't enough content in each of the stories, at least not enough of the kind that gives weight to the stories.
The author does manage to write in a way that you want to continue reading, which is good as otherwise I think it would have been difficult to continue and have some interest.
During the time I read the stories I kept feeling that more and better could have been done with the characters and the events in the book.

[Beth Mowbray · Rating 4 out of 5]

📚B IS FOR BOOK REVIEW📚

📔Title: What If We Were Somewhere Else
🖋Author: Wendy J. Fox
🗓Pub Date: 11.01.21

🗂Genre:
General fiction, short stories

📖Plot:
This unique short story collection follows a group of co-workers, both in and out of the office, as they contemplate their current lives and, in one way or another, each face the title question: What if we were somewhere else?

🗝Themes:
Finding meaning/purpose/satisfaction in our lives, the corporate machine in America

💭Thoughts:
I really like Fox’s writing style and approach to these stories. She takes a list of universally relatable life situations (career success, job loss, marriage, divorce, affairs, love, loss, etc.) and pushes past the basics to relay them in a way that is fresh and engaging. She asks the reader to reflect upon where they assign meaning and value in life, as well as to consider if the grass is really greener on the other side. I like how the characters pop up across multiple stories, adding layers to their development each time you see them on the page. This is a quick, easy read that is also thought-provoking!

🗣Recommended for those who like:
Want by Lynn Steger Strong, Topics of Conversation by Miranda Popkey

Thanks to the publisher and publicist for gifting me an advance copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions expressed here are entirely my own.

[Jen Michalski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interview upcoming at jmww journal!

[Cari · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved this story collection that I read for Booklist. Working on the review that you will see there!

[Edna Pontellier · Rating 5 out of 5]

This satisfying collection of interlinked stories follows a group of workers in a Denver office before and after most of them are fired. The stories take us back in time and far into the future to show us where the characters have been, how they got where they are, and where they might go next. They focus on pivotal moments of transition in the characters' lives.

Fox's collection has a clear and logical organizational structure, with two stories devoted to each of its seven main characters-- Kate, Heather, Laird, Sabine, Melissa, Michael, and Christian-- and an extra one at the end to Kate, formerly the group's boss, with whom the collection opens. Each character's second story mirrors their first, with repeated images and sentence structures creating a pleasing echo that helps call the character and their voice back to mind. Each narrator's voice is distinct. My favorite narrators were probably Laird, the earnest mama's boy, and Heather, whose uniquely intimate narration takes the form of a direct address to the lover with whom she cheats on her husband.

There are lots of deadbeat dads in these stories, and lots of single parents, especially mothers closely bonded with their sons. I enjoyed the way Fox juxtaposed ever-precarious family structures-- parents that leave, partners that cheat, marriages that end, children that lose their way-- with the ever-precarious workplace, from which anyone can be "let go" at any time. As Kate puts it: "We hide from our marriages inside of work, or we hide from our work inside of our marriages, and then when both are gone, it's like those dreams we had in elementary school, naked on the playground." In both work and love, Fox shows us, "People get so casual, they get comfortable, and they overlook danger. They think it won't happen to them."

A solid, cohesive collection populated by memorable characters.

[SqueakyChu · Rating 5 out of 5]

I very much enjoyed reading this collection of short stories. The first chapter described a company which laid off a set of employees. The stories thereafter told about these individuals with their stories intertwining with each other. I liked that these stories were very different from one another and dealt with different aspects of each character’s life.

One of the stories I liked most was “A Book of Names, A Spreadsheet” because it told about the employees’ office which brought me back to thoughts and memories of my own office days, particularly the office never being the right temperature, and, more sadly, being laid off.

I was also fascinated by “The Human” with its look into the future as Michael was reunited with his old girlfriend Sabine when both were basically forced to live on the moon!

All of the stories were beautiful and well written stories about how life goes on, no matter what. I was sorry the stories ended, but enjoyed reading about life after unemployment, although that in itself brought me back to some less than happy memories as I reflected back on the challenges that came for me personally with job loss.

[Cynthia Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

WHAT IF WE WERE SOMEWHERE ELSE starts good and becomes amazing. I loved it. There’s so much pleasure to be had in reading it–pleasure in the different ways we get to know the characters, pleasure in the characters themselves, pleasure in discovering the structure of the book, pleasure in how the structure tells the story. Pleasure in the ways the stories speak to each other and pleasure in the many ways particular stories echo each other. Pleasure in the writing itself.

You know that thrill when you see someone you know in a place you weren’t expecting. Or that desire, when you see someone you recognize but can’t quite place, to figure out how you know them and to tell someone what you know about them. Linked collections with a number of different narrators give the reader those feelings. There’s the pleasure of talking to Kate and then talking about Kate.

Everything I could tell you about this book will take some pleasure away from reading it yourself. So my recommendation is that you stop reading this review and head off to order this book from the independent bookstore of your choice.

[Wayne McCoy · Rating 5 out of 5]

'What If We Were Somewhere Else' by Wendy J. Fox is a book of linked short stories exploring our deep need to want more with our lives if we could only figure out what.

This book follows the lives of a handful of people who work together in an office as they struggle with layoffs, divorces, personal dissatisfaction and other issues. Each character feels individual and unique and the level of detail is almost uncomfortably intimate with the level of frankness. The loneliness and isolation are stark and yet, we face many of the same struggles. We work with people and form bonds, but do we really know them?

There are some interesting surprises along the way as characters show up intertwined in other stories and viewpoints shift. There is even a jump to the not too distant future. The author's writing style here is in top form and the prose kept me turning pages to read more.

I received a review ARC from the author in exchange for an honest review. Thank you very much for allowing me to review this book.

[Lisa Morrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

I recently finished reading What If I Were Somewhere Else and highly recommend it. Each of the stories works as a stand alone, with a common link of working in the same awful office. Throughout the collection the characters dip in and out of each others lives, giving us a look into the dramatic minutiae of the everyday, the unexpected and deeply moving moments in lives that on the surface appear quite ordinary. Fox's writing is sublimely eloquent. She makes perfectly exact word choices to articulate the emotional reactions of her characters and never falls into the trap of using unnecessarily complex vocabulary. The writing is down-to-earth because Fox writes about real emotions everyone can relate to. Reading these stories gave me great comfort, as in the scenarios I related to most as closest to my own life experiences in some way, no one was seriously harmed or damaged emotionally. In What If I Were Somewhere Else, the reader is able to both subjectively engage with Fox's people but also view them objectively to question and wonder why they make the choices they do, and that duality, I believe, is Fox's greatest skill.

[Readersaurus · Rating 3 out of 5]

At first, I really enjoyed this. Then, I didn’t.

The story follows a selection of individuals, joined by the circumstance of being employed in the same office. Business booms, then shrinks. Layoffs ensue. With each chapter comes a switch in who is telling the story. Some of the co-workers feature in others’ stories. Some only appear in their own. Some are mentioned by name in the beginning of the book but never appear again. The chapters about relationships, the meaning of work, the impact of kindness - these are good. Then, some of the chapter protagonists start to repeat and I lost interest. A chapter near the very end leaps decades into the future and depicts a sci fi future with a dying earth and government control of everyone’s life details, including whether their backyard chickens live or die and who they’re going to marry when they move to the moon. Normally, I’m all over that kind if story but what the heck it doesn’t belong in this book.

[Lindsay Stenico · Rating 4 out of 5]

What If We Were Somewhere Else poses the question that we all find ourselves asking at some point or another. Whether it be absentmindedly while on a nice day off, or when everything in the world seems to go wrong and decides to take it out on you, and you'd do anything to be anywhere else.

Exploring the interwoven lives of seven employees, we journey with them as they try to discover, and rediscover themselves and the impact they've had on those around them.

From affairs, to a son watching his mother fall in love again, the rise and fall of friendship before and after college, to even the journey from leaving a commune, Wendy's latest short story collection truly makes you stop to wonder what life would be like, if we were somewhere else.

[Jen Dary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Given my day job, I usually avoid book about workplaces and careers because it’s close to home but THIS I liked. A series of short stories (one per 7 characters, repeats once so you get to spend 2 stories with each character). I did go a little batty trying to remember the details of all the characters’ lives but for the most part they were distinct enough for me to remember.

Also: Laird was the best guy ever. Dream son!

Overall, a good read and a cool structure to world build around a group of office colleagues.

Last point: I loved that that characters had challenges but I could read it before bed and still believe in humanity. This is not always the case with short stories! 😱

[Kendall · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love a good collection of short stories with interwoven characters. The author was making the equivalent of charcoal sketches with her words -- not that things weren't fleshed out, but rather that a single pencil stroke reveals so much. A tiny aside about a character's childhood interaction with his future stepfather, for example, evokes everything you need to know about his loyalty and love for his mother. Deftly rendered.

[Not Sarah Connor Writes · Rating 2 out of 5]

This short story collection wasn't for me. A lot of the characters just didn't interest me and the story "The Human" really came out of left field and honestly ruined it for me.

Read the full review on my blog!

[Ray Sinclair · Rating 3 out of 5]

The lives of this cast of characters intersect at their shared workplace, an nondescript office. Each story gives voice to another worker and over the course of the stories we get varied perspectives on professional and personal events. No fireworks here, just low key joys (some), hurts (more often), and insights (always -- and they're good).

[Kyndra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I had a hard time knowing what to rate this... I enjoyed the writing, it's engaging, but I didn't like the format much. I was always dissatisfied when the narrator changed, I felt like I didn't get enough from each one. I wished that the characters were more connected and their stories overlapped more, it all just felt too jumpy and disconnected.

[Tan Clare · Rating 3 out of 5]

An anthology with the seven-degrees of separation backdrop is nothing new, and the collection suffers from the same problem of uneven engagement depending on the reader's interest in each story. However some do particularly stand out in creativity and insight.

[Jessica Goodman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I’m a fan of linked short stories - I like revisiting characters over time and seeing snapshots of lives progressing. Really enjoyed these linked stories with memorable characters (their connection being that they worked for the same company).