Sarah Freligh’s story collection, Other Emergencies, explores themes of grief, resilience, family dynamics, and the quiet struggles of everyday life in small-town America. With a keen eye for detail and poetic caress, Freligh creates narratives that are both deeply human and profoundly moving. In the title story, “Other Emergencies,” Laura’s life is disrupted when her brother, Jack, blows off most of his hands while fooling around with dynamite. Once a promising baseball player, Jack becomes a symbol of lost potential. Laura navigates the reactions of her family, schoolmates, and community while grappling with resentment as her brother’s misfortune overshadows her struggles with identity and invisibility, “What they really meant was that I should do things to make myself less hopeless.” And “I wanted my mother to hear me above the others, to see me, but she looked past me, over me, into the crowd, waving and crying like a new Miss America.”
The story “Next of Kin,” follows Sophie, a woman burdened by the responsibility of caring for her brother Kevin, a Vietnam veteran whose mental health has worsened. Through Sophie’s reflections on their shared past and Kevin’s erratic behavior, Freligh paints a poignant picture of familial love, guilt, and the emotional toll of caregiving underscoring the difficult balance between compassion and self-preservation, “Sophie is struck by the odd kinship she feels […], the recognition of someone who’s hanging on for dear life. The bared teeth, the tight grin: the exact way she’s arranged her own face to keep it from shattering into pieces, from flying apart with grief.”
“A Way” centers on the emotional struggles of two girls grappling with dysfunctional families and small-town life. They contend with neglect and disappointment—one due to her mother’s affair, and the other due to her mother’s alcoholism.
In “Heaven,” Caitlyn narrowly escapes a mass shooting at her workplace, only to grapple with survivor’s guilt and the fragility of life. These stories highlight Freligh’s ability to capture the moments that define her characters’ lives, often revealing their deepest fears and desires. Marked by their imperfections and vulnerabilities Freligh’s characters touch the reader’s heart.
Beyond personal struggles, the collection spotlights broader societal issues, including gun violence, economic hardship, and the weathering of the American Dream. Stories like “Epidemic” and “Aftershocks” boldly confront these themes, offering candid portrayals of the challenges faced by individuals in a fractured society.
Freligh’s prose is nuanced, allowing her to tackle heavy subjects with grace and depth. Her characters leap off the page and her evocative descriptions linger with the reader long after the story ends. Despite exploring serious themes, the characters discover solace in unexpected sources—a stray cat, a shared laugh, or a beautiful sunset—offering moments of levity that highlight the resilience of the human spirit. In Other Emergencies, Sarah Freligh paints an arresting picture of life’s complexities, showcasing the struggles, triumphs, and quiet and sometimes not-so-quiet moments that shape us. From beauty to pain this is a finely crafted and emotionally resonant work of fiction.
Britta Stromeyer is a member of the National Book Critics Circle. Her writing appears in Flash Fiction Magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Necessary Fiction, On The Seawall, Marin Independent Journal and other publications. Britta has authored award-winning children’s books and holds an MFA from Dominican University, CA, an M.A. from American University, and a Certificate in Novel Writing from Stanford University.