From Sarah D'Stair (author of Central Valley and Helen Bonaparte) Abstract is a claustrophobic examination of the psyche of a young woman and the multiplicative terrors inherent in longing for isolation, permanence, and genuine companionship. Twenty-six year old Cora Freelene works as an abstractor, reducing transcripts of congressional hearings to their two-sentence gists. She lives rent free in her great-grandmother's house, preparing it to be put on the market by decluttering the bric-a-brac amassed over a lifetime. She has lovers, friends, pining suitors, and secret crushes all kept at arm's length. She has ambitions, desires ... but has them less and less. She has a cat, Chloe, she cannot imagine life without ... and a screen door she cannot remember forgetting to close ... ... she has fingernails which fall off ... ... and hair she finds clumped in the shower drain

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