Ah for the days of a linear plot and a novel that is not so self indulgent it blurs the line between fiction and non-fiction by being neither. Such is Jack Kerouac Is Pregnant, an amateur outing that rides soley on its clever title.

I applaude Jack Kerouac is Pregnant for a variety of reasons. The sarcastic, wry wit that gleams through the pages is evident after obvious examination. And the incredible, massive madness that seeps through the corners of the deliriously delightful assortment of plays. Carry on, Aurelie Sheehan. Be great.

"It takes a long time to see you are a slave," muses one character in Aurelie Sheehan's debut collection, a line that succinctly captures the cumulative effect of her stories. These lyrical, sometimes bitingly funny chronicles of women breaking out of imposed roles feature misplaced waitresses, secretaries, prostitutes, and other working girls. In the title story, a woman yearns to be like Jack Kerouac, but is held back by a litany of rules teaching her to be a submissive girl, a "pansy." The main character in "Look at the Moon" is bored to distraction by her receptionist job but is still half under the influence of a Catholic upbringing when she hooks up with a flamboyant stranger and goes on a life-altering road trip with her. In "The Dove," a wealthy widow who was pressured by her family to marry a rich man spends her life fixated on an affair she had a week before her wedding. Women young and old, rich and poor, make soul-threatening sacrifices to adhere to societal or familial strictures. Love is passionately evoked here, as are the myths and illusions that sustain it. Non-linear, poetic, and arresting, Sheehan's storytelling skills ring with the authority of honesty, compassion, and experience.