March 2, 2026
Brawler, by Lauren Groff
Nearly 20 years later, I still remember what it felt like to be reading Lauren Groff for the first time, her debut novel The Monsters of Templeton, a book that could have been a one-off, clever, a gimmick. And then a year later I’d read her story collection Delicate Edible Birds and realize that Lauren Groff can do ANYTHING (and also she writes swimlit!). These were delicate, edible and sometimes absolutely brutal stories that veered off on all directions, the same way Groff has continued to do throughout her career with her novels, to the point where I’m not always interested in all of her projects (which is fine—a writer should pursue her own fascinations) and her latest release, the short story collection Brawler, only underlines her narrative power, precision and excellence.
Lauren Groff’s novels are sweeping—Arcadia and Fates and Furies!—and her short fiction manages to be just the same, every little little story an epic, some of these unfolding over years and decades. Usually long short stories are not my favourite, but I never wanted any of the stories in Brawler to end, only getting through it when they did because the endings are so exquisite and worthy of the head-exploding emoji.
Each story hinges on a moment of unfathomable consequence. “Wind,” the first, takes place in the 1950s as a woman attempts to flee her husband’s violence, the story narrated by her eldest child; in “To Sunland,” a young woman makes a choice when she become responsible for her disabled brother; in “Brawler,” a high school diver with bloody knuckles reckons with her mother’s illness; “Birdie” probes the dark edges of female friendship; “What’s the Time, Mr. Wolf?” is a masterpiece that takes a rich kid from the idyll of childhood to the darkest night of the soul (and the ending!! omg); “Under the Wave” explores the aftermath of a climate-change driven natural disaster; “Such Small Islands” is about a little girl not quite aware of her own power (or is she?); and “Annunication” about a young woman’s reckless choices whose consequences come for others.
If you want to be devastated over and over again (what else is reading for?), then Brawler is the book for you. One of the sharpest, and most haunting works I’ve encountered in a long time.
