It is often silly, superficial, childish, simple and almost never funny- despite it's aim and claim. He used to call her a koala because of the way she wrapped herself around him in bed, like a koala on a branch. She had wrapped her whole life around him, like a koala on a branch. And now the branch was gone and Lucinda had to deal with the fact that her life was now wrapped around nothing–which of course was all perfectly normal. All the pain Lucinda now felt was normal. The emptiness was normal. The harsh incinerating b boring awful raw barren obsessive numb five-hundred-volt nothingness now completely consuming her was so totally average.” I started in sketch comedy, and that’s not what I’m doing anymore. I don’t want my short stories to feel like a comedy sketch. I try to find in all of [my stories], what is the emotional hook? What is this story actually about? What is this character going through? I think “We Men of Science” is a little bit about that. It’s about the guilt the character feels, but also the guilt he doesn’t feel, and how he convinces himself that what he’s doing is not wrong. Part of being an adult is learning that you can’t always trust your gut. The stories are clever and fun but always with lots of heart, and sometimes with some lovely writing:

SIDENOTE - i also really like the playfulness with fonts that occurs in this story and several others throughout the collection. it’s weird and wonky and fun. The town is full of these triggers, and the longer you live here, the more land mines you set. There’s the Gap at Astor Place, the bathroom at the Crocodile Lounge—the odds of stumbling into the lingering smoke of an old flame are staggering, and increasing still with every new significant instant spent with another significant other.

The Average of All Possible Things,” follows a character named Lucinda who works as a clerk/researcher at a law firm. She does not like her job very much. For five months, she dates Gavin, one of the lawyers at the firm. Gavin then ends the relationship. At first, Lucinda has trouble getting over the relationship, as she sees Gavin at work often. However, she then eventually begins to heal. You can put to rest the fear that you were a blip in this other person's life, a footnote. What you did was important. You hurt somebody, and somebody hurt you.” You imagine spending the rest of your life with this man, as you’ve imagined with all of them—not because you think you will necessar­ily, but just because you can’t help but wonder. The Average of All Possible Things – when an average girl with an average life and an average job has a rough breakup, but admitting things aren’t quite average is a little too hard

Bob-Waksberg: Guilt? Well, I mean, I’m Jewish. [ Laughs] As is the character in that story, actually. I think he’s the only explicitly Jewish character in the book, and he’s the most guilty. A Most Blessed and Auspicious Occasion” follows a man named Peter who is engaged to be married to a woman named Dorothy. Peter and Dorothy want a very simple wedding, but under the pressure of their families, they obey many strange elaborate wedding ceremonies that are considered traditional in the world of this story.

i don’t have any feelings about this one, but i will say that he manages his rhyme scheme and scansion much better than lang leav ever has.

More of the You That You Already Are” follows an unnamed narrator who works at a U.S. president-themed amusement park. He does not like the job, but he needs the income to help support his sister, who is undergoing cancer treatment. One day, the park introduces a new attraction: a genetic homunculus that is a combination of the first ten U.S. presidents. After genetic being escapes, it is possible that the park will close down. The narrator’s only solace is that he will look for another job to help support his sister. you want to know what plays are like?" which is a bittersweet story about a family mess. bitter because it's terribly sad. sweet because it's beautifully written.These Are Facts – probably the one I liked least in the collection, following a teenage girl’s reunion with her estranged half-brother on a family vacation. I liked the writing, but the story itself didn’t hook me quite enough. Missed Connection–m4w – a trippy, sad sort of story about hesitating to act and the possible painful results thereof a series of ten... what to call these? too long to be epigrams, not didactic enough to be aphorisms, too interconnected to be flash fiction, too bleak to be greeting cards. But if there's a silver lining here (and you're not sure there is one), it's the assurance that what you had, whatever it was, had weight. It made an impact.”