The Case of Elena and All That Went Wrong

The Case of Elena and All that Went Wrong focuses on a cast of recurring main characters and their peripheral acquaintances. The characters come from a range of ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds, sexual orientations, and ages, but what they have in common is that they all must navigate the world while facing bizarre challenges. At its core, this book is about human relationships within a framework of magical realism that provides humor and opportunities for insight. How does a working-class lesbian reconcile the weird appeal of a shrinking man who wants her to swallow him? Should a middle-class white guy believe that the scrappy, probably-a-grifter man who has been dehydrated and crammed behind the tray table on an airplane really just needs some money to get home to his son? What does a black man do when his young, white, female piano student starts bleeding on his keys? In the vein of the classic Simpsons episode "22 Short Films about Springfield," as well as Jennifer Egan's A Visit from the Goon Squad and Junot Diaz's This Is How You Lose Her, the overlapping characters and plotlines in this book inform one another and interweave to create a satisfying experience for the reader.