Archivists

Five stars for Kalotay's The Archivists. Themes of memory and loss abound--from the opening story, Relativity, which follows a social worker helping Holocaust survivors while dealing with his own loss, to the final story, Oblivion, in which memory itself is lost. The stories capture human relationships and desires, often in difficult moments--at a party with an ex who's now engaged to another woman, on a mountain trek where relationships end but no one can walk away, or in pandemic lockdown. Kalotay deftly depicts human complexity as well as both the honesty and dishonesty in ourselves and our relationships. Beautifully written, deeply moving, and memorable.