‘My Life is a Joke’ by Sheila Heti

“Could I have a glass of water, please? Where is my water? I am parched and I am dead.”

The short story as stand-up routine, as ‘Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road?’ joke. A lecture delivered from beyond the grave. I must confess to mixed feelings about Heti’s recent work – Pure Colour was too sweet for me – but the early hits speak for themselves. Here, Heti’s philosophical comedy is literally grounded: the “salt and soil and sweat and worms and seedlings” and “those little Styrofoam balls”. When I think of this story I think of those little Styrofoam balls.

First published in The New Yorker, 2015 and available to read here