I read Adam Haslett’s book a couple of weeks ago. It was one of those a tore through, not just because it’s only nine short stories, but because Haslett creates characters that are so flawed and yet so captivating that I couldn’t put the book down.

Haslett’s collection is on fire from page one. ‘Notes to My Biographer,’ is the last road trip of an elderly inventor traveling to visit a son he hasn’t seen in years.

There’s one story about a teen boy dealing with the death of his parents and his own homosexuality in a most painful way. I can’t remember what the title of that story is, and the book is way over on a bookcase in the living room’so you’ll just have to trust me that it’s startling and painful to read. It’s sort of like rubbernecking at a car wreck– you can’t turn away.

Divination was by far my favorite story, maybe because I related so well to the young Samuel who had dreams about people dying shortly before they died. The last line in that story will definitely break your heart right in two

By far the best story in the book is the last and longest one, ‘The Volunteer.’ It’s this story that makes me hope Haslett has a novel in him and that he writes it relatively soon.

‘The Volunteer’ tells the story of Ted, an artistic teen falling in love for the first time and Elizabeth, the schizophrenic woman he visits weekly. Elizabeth is by far the most mesmerizing character in the entire book. A puritan ancestor named Hester plagues Elizabeth, and their relationship is fascinating.

Basically, Haslett gives us nine stories about people dealing with their inner demons’none of these people are perfect. In fact, they are perfectly flawed and that’s what’s makes the characters so great.