Review: "Bedford Street" by Ross Murray

Bedford Street by Ross Murray
Published November 2026 via Fantagraphics
★★★

A street in New Zealand: in each house, a different small drama playing out, with people coming together and (more often) falling apart.

The art is great here, not too complicated but with plenty of detail. These are messy characters, nobody unscathed: Anyone who might be a "good" character almost immediately lets their darker side show, whether they're judging someone else for their circumstances or treating women poorly or shouting at their neighbors.

I love the concept of a set of interconnected stories, but ultimately I wanted a bit more connection between them, and I also found the lack of hope in the stories kind of dispiriting. The book is described as "darkly comic", but it's not a kind of humor that resonates with me, and I struggled to find the hope in it. There are occasional moments—a man determined to take care of his brother; his brother, in turn, recognizing when the tables need turning; a father who at first seems maybe like a bit of a deadbeat ultimately understanding his son better than one might expect. But mostly things tend to go downhill, not to improve, for the characters here, and while I don't mind a bit of grit I think I just struggled with the lack of joy.

But: I do seem to be something of an outlier here, and if you're already familiar with Murray's work I suspect this one won't disappoint. I'd read more, but I'd do so with a bit more mental preparation for how grim things might feel by the end of the book.

Thanks to the author and publisher for providing a review copy through NetGalley.