In the Round - Rebecca Handler

 A woman is consumed by the belief her life has become a play. Lively, moving, and at moments astonishing, Rebecca Handler’s Kafkaesque literary mystery is either a reflection on middle aged malaise or the cover-up for a murderous plot. Or maybe it’s a theatrical production.

We meet In the Round’s unnamed protagonist a few minutes after she’s become convinced she’s a victim of a home invasion. Nothing is missing from her family’s San Francisco home, but everything feels wrong. Certain a burglar was there recently, the woman lurks about her own house during a sleepless night of questioning. Have you ever been sure that someone is watching you? Does a lifetime of putting others first lead to permanent paranoia? As a once in a lifetime pandemic wanes, have we all built versions of ourselves we’re performing for an unseen audience? In the depths of one strange night in her living room, she seeks answers from her teenage son and her troubled neighbor. She dances to 90s music and buys herself underwear online. And she wonders: Will she be able to solve the mystery of her own purpose so she can save herself?