Chaon has become one of my favorite new writers. ( )

3.7 Some really good writing. A few felt like extended vignettes without much of a payoff, but if you don't need that, then fairly excellent. ( )

Some of the characters in these stories are scary, but you realize they are the ordinary people you see around you everywhere in the grocery store and on the streets. ( )

This collection of short stories is very well written and provides an insightful perspective into ordinary people. The stories themselves are, for the most part, pretty depressing.

The stories in the first half of the book seemed to be snapshots of peoples lives. Just a few days or weeks in the life of someone who had significant personal problems or issues to deal with. There was no conclusion to these stories. They just ended, with nothing resolved.

The stories in the second half were just as depressing, but they seemed to at least have a conclusion.

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I only managed to read two of the short stories in this collection before calling it quits. I read "Safety Man" and "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me" and found both to be a bit strange, but not at all interesting. This was a huge disappointment after I recently finished reading You Remind Me of Me, which I adored.
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