Aimee’s big trick is that she makes twenty-six monkeys vanish onstage. Well, it’s not really her trick as the monkeys do all the work. Aimee has no idea how they do it. But with the eldest monkey slowly dying, will the trick survive him?
Kij Johnson does a great job at evoking a feeling most of us have probably had at one time or other. Aimee finds herself lost in her own life, without any goals, surrounded by a random constellation of artefacts and people. It’s just that in her case there are also monkeys who disappear in a bathtub, contrasting Aimee’s feelings with a playful dose of whimsy. Add to that a truly wonderful ending and you get one of my favourite stories of the year so far.
(Asimov’s, July 2008)
