The Period of Usefulness

When Dee realizes her introverted personality has isolated her from society she rejectes becoming a cat lady and makes a conscious decision to reintegrate into the outside world. Though her relationships begin as a forced exercise in extroversion Dee proves a plucky companion and adversary for a cast of memorable characters. Their candid behavior and the narrator's pithy commentary hilariously reveal the complexity of even the most mundane interactions. A sympathetic heroine expresses uncanny dialog while meeting absurd circumstances and a deranged twist-style ending. Light-hearted delivery down-to-earth sensibility and the narrator's infectious morbid curiosity make The Period of Usefulness a finely-crafted yet unpretentious tale worth reading at least twice.