This is why she ran away when a pregnant woman crossed her path. “I didn’t want to be near the hands that left marks on everything they touched,” writes Stambo.

“People are observing when they first get somewhere,” Sam said. “Or when they’re about to leave.” 

“I want to spring on you like a verb, like a wartime cat snatching a rare mouse from the floor.”

“Sometimes, belonging to a place means longing to leave it. Sometimes it means knowing you can always go back.”

You can’t place me. I could be any
thing in the summer
when my tan has vacationing ladies
in Williamsburg touching my arms, wet gaze on my frizz—​
can you believe I’m from where you are, lady?

To further the comparison between the two texts, certain thematic valences notwithstanding, Chapman’s debut is an all but negative image of Gessen’s sophomore effort—disjunctive where Gessen’s narrative is straight ahead; knowing and bawdy and essentially unconcerned with portraying human relationships at any great length.