Loss

The author explores the complexities of understanding and reconciling loss through Jas Mulder's various encounters with death. Beginning with the tragedy of her brother Matthies's drowning, Jas's world becomes defined by the things she is losing. In an attempt to hold onto what is fragile, Jas begins stuffing her coat pockets with mementos. Over the course of the narrative, her pockets fill with dying toads, severed whiskers, and candy wrappers. Despite her obsessive habit of collecting, Jas still feels incapable of controlling her surroundings. It is not only Matthies, after all, that Jas has lost.

After their firstborn son dies, Jas's parents suffer their own existential deaths. Overcome by sorrow, Mum and Dad retreat increasingly into themselves. They become so distant, Jas is convinced both of them will soon die as well. In order to make sense of their behaviors, Jas looks to math solutions and...