Intersections

A superb collection of short stories by Andrew Spink. Passenger's stories told to the driver of their rideshare journey were magic. Extremely well put together and a joy to read. Impossible to put down and well worth five stars.

Nobody lies to their Uber Driver. That feeling of freedom of sharing our most important secrets with strangers is faithfully conveyed here.
I loved this. Nine excellent short stories that are engaging, all born from conversations with an Uber driver.
Brilliantly written you get totally invested in the characters in each story.
I found this yesterday afternoon when I was idly scrolling through Netgalley and I’m so glad I did.
Read over one evening these stories will stay with me long after I finished the book.

The thread that connects all of these short stories is the first person perspective of an Uber driver. Once the driver describes how they picked up a client, what the client looks like, and records their initial interaction, the narrative slips into a third person account of the passenger’s experiences. This collection is organized by element, and each element is introduced with a poem that helps the reader understand the purpose of the section. “Water,” for example, focuses on the interconnectedness of all humans.

Each short story is, by itself, a powerful emotional journey. Topics such as death, suicide, and violence are explored liberally. I could see using these short stories in a secondary or post-secondary classroom to discuss characterization, foreshadowing, and theme. The introductory poem for the section, paired with one of the short stories, would make an interesting discussion of poetry and prose as well. In particular, I could see this being a useful anchor text in an AP classroom.

My only criticism would be the organization of the writing. In the introduction, the chance meeting of two high school sweethearts in the back of a rideshare seemed to establish characters. However, a few pages later, the first person narrator appeared. It was a little jarring to switch from third to first person perspective throughout the collection, especially when third person was established first.