And as an aspiring psychologist, I love his portrayals of characters with mental illnesses and their family members. His empathy and compassion for his characters literally made me put this book down twice to go on a walk, just so I could continue to appreciate his care-filled prose with a clear head. His writing exhibits remarkable restraint and communicates so much emotion without resorting to dramatics. I have developed a serious author crush on Adam Haslett after reading both Imagine Me Gone and You Are Not a Stranger Here. Some of my favorites include: "Notes to My Biographer," in which a mentally ill father visits his son for the first time in years "The Beginnings of Grief," about a boy who forms an abusive relationship with a classmate to cope with his parents' deaths and "Devotion," in which two siblings both wait for the arrival of an old friend. His stories focus on grief, mental illness, and sexuality. I have never felt so moved by short fiction Adam Haslett has this stunning, almost scary ability to make you care so goddamn much about his characters even when they inhabit 30 pages or less. The first four short stories in this collection ripped my heart to shreds.
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