For all its advantages, the novel must cede ground to the short story when it comes to capturing the contemporary idiom. A great story collection, and Justin Taylor’s Flings is a great story collection, swoops through the world like a butterfly net capturing not only the way we speak but the way we think.

Take the following moment from the unforgettable story “Sungold,” in which our narrator describes his job at a bar-restaurant, which requires him to wear a giant mushroom costume on the street corner, attempting to bring in customers. He is hopping inside the foam suit on a summer day in