The Missing Kidney by Maxine Rosaler
Set in the vanished world of the New York City of the 1970s and ‘80s, these stories convey a sense of the enchantment that lurks on the flip side of every moment, as if the meaning of life were hidden within the static being blasted out of the loudspeakers on a subway platform, or a scrap of newspaper preserved under ice on a cold winter’s day.
A girl tries to save the boy she loves from his crippling love for his uncle. A champion of social justice talks herself into believing that the man she finds sexually repulsive is a perfect fit for her perfectly ordered life. A man kneels on the sidewalk before a memorial he constructed for his girlfriend as a crowd of curious onlookers gather around him. Rosaler deals out the fates of a vivid array of complex characters with unflagging verbal energy, wit and a delight in the details of city life.
Praise for The Missing Kidney
“Fans of Lorrie Moore can quench their thirst for witty short stories and self-aware, smart-ass narrators with these tales of love and work in New York City in the 1970s and ’80s.” —AN OPRAH DAILY BEST SUMMER READS OF 2025 PICK
“This collection of 14 stories, brimming with scrappy characters navigating life in New York in the 70s and 80s, is both a kaleidoscopic period piece and a timeless exploration of the complexities of human relationships.”—The New York Times Book Review
“The best short story writer you’ve never heard of—Kirkus Reviews (starred)
Praise for Queen for a Day
“An engrossing and compassionate collection showing motherhood in its most unrelenting form.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“Maxine Rosaler’s stories are both hard-edged and comic, both laced with despair and hopeful against all expectation. New York City is the setting, a struggle to prosper in the face of bad choices and deeply ingrained perversity is the theme. Constant, however, is a narrative voice that proves irresistible, and a craftsman’s approach to the construction of these contemporary parables.”—C. Michael Curtis, Fiction Editor, The Atlantic
“Rosaler writes of Mimi’s ongoing struggle from firsthand experience and instills in her protagonist such fierce resolve to do all she can for her son while simultaneously limning awkward episodes with ironic humor; the reader becomes immersed in all that the diagnosis of autism in one’s child must entail.”—Booklist
What Amazon readers said
★★★★★
A Great Book To Get Lost In
I really liked Rosaler’s previous book, QUEEN FOR A DAY, so I bought this one immediately, and I wasn’t disappointed. It offers the same intensely emotional experiences, the same wacky but likable narrator, and different but still compelling conflicts and predicaments, told with the same rich, juicy writing style. Because this new book is a collection of short stories, I had multiple characters and situations to think about for days afterwards. These stories don’t leave your mind as soon as you read the last sentence of each. They linger, running the gamut of human emotions, from silly, cheerful, and funny to loving to serious to sad to unbearably tragic. My favorite story, THE FOG MAN, made me cry. But other stories made me laugh, and even the crazy New York experience, which has been written about thousands of times, in Rosaler’s stories somehow seems unique and interesting. I can understand why Oprah selected this book for her summer reading list.
★★★★★
A Strong Compelling Voice
The tales and dialogue all ring true. The stories reveal characters striving to find joy or at least hope despite family drama and sometimes tragic circumstances. I especially loved the author’s first person voice—sad, funny, crazy.
★★★★★
Outstanding Book
Maxine Rosaler’s book of stories, The Missing Kidney, is a pleasure to read. Her work takes on memorable impact through an effective narrative economy, and this includes some incisive, snappy descriptions that not only get the point across but create indelible images of characters and their conflicted situations. And this is often with a subtle undercurrent of humor and genuine sympathy for the mostly self-induced personal, painful entrapments she depicts. (Though, it should be said, she doesn’t like every single one of her creations. She can be mean.)
I’ll emphasize that the author has a strong grip on her preferred technique of realism. The world comes across as recognizable, the ordinary world we live in and know well, but in her stories is vivid, intense, a reality enhanced by the sharpness of her writing.
The book is a pleasure to read, and more than that.
I give it a 5-star.
What Goodread readers said
★★★★★
Here’s a review from your friend who likes to say bombastic things about books, try really hard to convince you of the statement, then end with exasperated hands thrown in the air and a beg to read the book.
The Missing Kidney just took the throne as my favorite collection of short stories I’ve ever read.
I can think back and name a few others I’ve truly adored, too: Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri, Exhalation by Ted Chiang, The Secret Lives of Church Ladies by Deesha Philyaw, Of Fathers & Gods by Jim Roberts. Lauren Groff and Karen Russell can write a heck of a short story too. But none of them hit the notes like these did for me.
I feel like I just read the book of stories by the spicy, nihilist aunt who has loved and lost more than anyone could bear, has a perfectly good apartment but has spent more nights on the city streets than you can imagine, and shows up in fishnets holding a pack of Marlboro Reds and a worn out copy of Chekhov’s greatest hits.
These stories are spot on perfect blends of sliceof-life realism mixed with just a bit of exquisitely relatable absurdist humor. I’m amused, touched, and left with a deep ache in the gut. I want to say something like Rosaler is a “writer’s writer” but I’m not sure that holds water—I think she’s just dang good, and her eye for the interactions and motivations that make people people, her clever wielding of dialogue, and the way she can end a story on the exact tone it needs is just pure sorcery.
I tried to pick out my favorites of the 14 to photograph and emphasize and just kept going “oh that was so good.” “Oh I loved that one.” “Haha oh man that one too.” Wheatberries is going to really stick out, and if you like what I like, The Girl from Texas will too.
With the perfect blend of irreverence for humanity’s goofy filth and a solemn respect for the love and beauty we all create together in spite of ourselves, I’m just throwing out there that this isn’t a book to skip. Forget that “you just don’t love short stories” stuff. THE MISSING KIDNEY is out May 13th. Read it then come back here and tell me I was wrong.
★★★★
I’ve always loved short stories but lately I’ve come across short story books that haven’t been that great. However the missing kidney was a great surprise. A collection of vignettes about people, relationships, loss set in the 70’s and 80’s New York City. 14 masterfully written stories meant to be savored.
★★★★
Great writing and endings that I have to keep thinking about and interpreting. Feels very straightforward but with smart under-the-surface points also being made — still working on unwrapping all of those.
The Missing Kidney by Maxine Rosaler 