Orgy – Kaitlyn Greenidge

Published by: Scribd
Date Published: 23/07/2021
Date Read: 25/06/2021

Nessa knows she’s a hot mess. She’s strong and impulsive and won’t apologize for it. She moved to Brooklyn from Baltimore to study nursing—or that was the plan. Instead she used the money her mom’s church group raised for her schooling to rent her first place in Brooklyn. Twenty years later and she has zero regrets: She loves her apartment even if the ceiling sags and the heat won’t shut off, even if her chronically uptight cousin Laurie lives with her now, and even if being stuck in it during the pandemic is slowly robbing Nessa of what makes her feel most like her: desire, skin on skin, finding the secret parts of a lover’s body.

When she’s invited to a party downtown, she knows she shouldn’t go but can’t resist. The invite’s subject line billed it as an “orgy,” thrown by some furries she knows. She outfits herself accordingly—pig nose and tail, black leotard, and fetchingly torn stockings—and, despite the disapproval of her cousin and the white boy who’s been camping in her cousin’s bed, she puts on her protective mask and walks out into a city transformed. It may be a lovely summer night, but she can’t help but see all that she and those around her have been missing during quarantine. At the party, she keeps confronting vestiges of her younger self, someone people noticed and who noticed others in reply: men, women, Black and white, gay and straight, nonbinaries, you name it—Nessa could see their beauty and reached to touch it, skin on skin. Now she feels like a ghost.

Thanks to NetGalley and Scribd for an advanced reader copy of Orgy in return for an honest review.

I didn’t know this was a short story when I started reading it. Anyone that knows me knows I am generally not a fan of short stories. I find you don’t get enough time to figure out who is who or what on earth is going on, and I find there’s just not enough to keep me interest.

Having said that, even though this book got straight in to the action, I didn’t feel lost. I knew who was who and what they were doing and feeling and thinking. I could instantly picture it.

Having said that, I do feel there could be more to it. Although that could just be because I’m not a fan of short stories and am used to my stories being more padded out. I am still waiting for the short story that turns me to their cause, but unfortunately this was not it.

Pandemic books are already coming in thick and fast and I enjoyed that this wasn’t the usual story we’re already seeing. It shows a positive, almost fun aspect and shows us we can still live our lives, even if our lives are a bit different now.