This is The Writer's Voice, new fiction from The New Yorker.

I'm Deborah Treesman, fiction editor at The New Yorker.

On this episode of The Writer's Voice, we'll hear L.F. Bateman read her story,

the repugnant conclusion from the April 25th and May 2, 2022 issue of the magazine.

Bateman is the author of The Possessed, adventures with Russian books and the people who read them,

and the novel The Idiot, which was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

The repugnant conclusion is adapted from her second novel, either or, which will be published in May.

Now here's L.F. Bateman.

The repugnant conclusion.

Spetlana got back to Harvard the day after me, though it felt like years.

I had already slept the night in my new room, eaten breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria,

and made numerous trips to the storage facility, having the same conversation over and over,

with people whose existence I had forgotten.

How was your summer?

How was your summer?

How was Hungary?

So, how was Hungary?

Did anything happen?

Lakshmi asked, with a conspiratorial sparkle.

Lakshmi was one of the people I remembered.

Last year, when we were freshmen, we had exchanged confidences.

We had both been in love with older guys.

...