FIRST TIMES

As this collection of nine Canadian stories translated from French clearly shows, the awkwardness of sexual exploration is frequently comical and, at the same time, complicated.

There are few moments in one’s life that imprint as deeply as one’s first sexual experience—and these fictional reflections are often funny, sometimes traumatic, and almost always memorable. Not every first time involves another person: In “The Great Fat Bird Migration” by Olivier Semard, the family shower is designated as his “Masturbodrome.” The narrator of Schelby Jean-Baptiste’s story, who’s Québécoise and of Haitian descent, tries to have her first orgasm in a Christian home where privacy is nearly nonexistent. She gives her pleasure zone the nickname “Chouchounette.” In “Hugo Nguyen,” Edith Chouinard’s 17-year-old protagonist, Nadine, is so nervous that she readies herself for the big event with self-motivational talk: “And tonight I need to feel brave.…Tonight I’m going to have sex for the first time.” The collection’s standout story, “This Ain’t Your Grandpa’s Pipe” by Nicolas Michon, features a hilarious and graphic play-by-play as 16-year-old Jung-Woo gives his first blow job to a boy from school. This entry is a reminder that self-doubt can lurk even when all you want is to be sexy: “Why did I say that? What’s the matter with me? Maybe he was just trying to tell me to keep going?” In this truly refreshing and worthwhile read, each story delivers on its titular promise: exploring the first time I did that.

A must-have, a must-read.