Crewelwork (Currency)

Poised between his lush introversion and the brutal realm of his every day, a young artist considers the price of precarity in this powerful short story by Justin Torres, the author of We the Animals.

A promising illustrator moves into adulthood contemplating all that he’s had to do for money—from the mundane to the grueling to the sexual. He also reflects on everything that has slipped away, including a boyfriend, close acquaintances, success, and allure. But sketch by sketch, he sometimes feels the enormity of all that is possible.

Justin Torres’s Crewelwork is part of Currency, a compounding collection of stories about wealth, class, competition, and collapse. If time is money, deposit here with interest. Read or listen in a single sitting.