I’m going to stick with my lifelong habit of avoiding spoilers whenever possible, but the biggest story in here deals with a breakup, and I’m still blown away with how it happened. The details are left to the imagination, and they’re kind of irrelevant to my bafflement, which is: people really break up over text and THEN ask to meet up so they can explain it in person? I’ve seen the cowardly breaking up by text, I’ve seen breaking up in person, I’ve even seen breaking up in person in a public place to lessen the chance of any unpleasant blowups. But breaking up by text and getting into the details later? AND asking them to return a loaned book when you meet them? I’m in awe. That story is told as in a fever dream, which makes sense, and the surprisingly good news he gets while waiting at the park was a fantastic juxtaposition. I mean, the look that the bank manager gave when he realized that heartbroken Eli would be a terrible model for a photo op! Eh, that’ll all make sense when you read the story. Other stories in here include the secret conversations of hospital equipment (come on, you know you were wondering about them) and a crowd in the rain joining together to salvage some poorly placed road detour blocks during a torrential downpour. Also sprinkled throughout are some of Eli’s interpretations of headlines from a celebrity gossip magazine he saw and didn’t understand, and there’s some hilarious stuff in there. The joys of hitting middle age are sparse, but “I have no idea who these ‘famous’ people are and also don’t care” is definitely one of them. I’d recommend this for the breakup story alone, but there’s a lot of good stuff in here, so give it a shot why don’t you? $10
Posted by Kevin 
