In one of her stories, Inventory, Carmen Maria Machado goes over the memories and experiences of the main character. The story’s structure is straightforward: it is an inventory of emotions from 20 levels caused by lovers with gradually increasing anxiety. It is a list of memories that can be understood from the last lines of the work. The author structures the stories in such a way that the reader imagines the life story of the main character: all meetings are interconnected, and by the end, it becomes clear that the author describes the story of the spread of a deadly virus that got very close to the heroine: her last lover was infected when they were together.
I believe that Machado has chosen to structure their story as a narrative, as it helps the reader immerse themselves in the story better. Like a list of essentials in a disaster, the main character collects her life on a list, describing ordinary but essential events for her. Throughout the early descriptions of past dates, we have a sense of unease, our narrator adding disturbing lines at the end of each story: how she will never be able to watch Jurassic Park or how she misses the floral smell of fabric softener. For the first time, when describing one of his life episodes, the author mentions a virus that cuts off California from the entire outside world: the borders are closed, and the planes are grounded. As the virus spreads, our narrator starts making lists: all of her pets, spices in pho, trees that start with M. As a result, one can see a list of normal life that is no more.