Product Description
What does it mean to be human? How does a person find meaning in his or her life?
This collection is much more than a few simple stories: it’s about what it means to be a human being in incredibly complex times; it’s about dealing with loneliness and discontent while balancing hope and despair; it's about trying to escape a past that won’t go away; it's about finding meaning in one’s life. Ultimately, it’s about trying to keep it together while life is falling apart.
The first four stories in this collection, written by Joshua Fields Millburn, discuss the struggles we face as we attempt to discover the meaning of our lives.
"It’s All So Quiet in Brooklyn," this collection’s longest piece, follows a young but aging musician as he approaches thirty and finds himself coping with loneliness and depression in the aftermath of several life-changing events. He feels utterly alone, so he leaves Ohio to search for meaning in the most unlikely place: Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.
"A Radically Attenuated History of Generation X" is, as the title suggests, an incredibly short story that attempts to summarize a particular ethos for an entire generation through the eyes of two characters on a dinner date.
The title story, "Falling While Sitting Down," follows an unnamed boy through eighteen years of growing up in an extraordinarily dysfunctional family, showing the emotional muscles it takes to survive such circumstances.
The collection’s final story, "The Loneliest Man in the World," considers the loneliness and real-life costs of poor relationship decisions from the point of view of a particularly troubled man.
Three Bonus Stories by Three Talented Young Writers:
As a bonus, three talented young writers—Colin Wright, Chase Night, and Mark D. Robertson—contributed to this collection, expanding the narrative beyond the scope of Joshua Fields Millburn's four stories.
"The Beam," by Colin Wright, tells the story of a sentient airport ceiling beam as it experiences self-doubt for the first time after an interaction with a man who’s struggling to find meaning in his life and intentions.
"When I Open My Eyes," by Chase Night, follows twenty-something Rafe Bradley as he wrestles with apathy and anger after a West Village gypsy woman tugs on a string that unravels his life.
"Up North," by Mark D. Robertson, is a short exploration of magical realism in South America. The story explores the way a mysterious canine illuminates in a depressed developing town in the northwest Andean mountains.
The seven stories in this collection vary drastically, but they all share one thing in common: each story is about what it’s like to be a human being during incredibly complex times.
This collection is much more than a few simple stories: it’s about what it means to be a human being in incredibly complex times; it’s about dealing with loneliness and discontent while balancing hope and despair; it's about trying to escape a past that won’t go away; it's about finding meaning in one’s life. Ultimately, it’s about trying to keep it together while life is falling apart.
The first four stories in this collection, written by Joshua Fields Millburn, discuss the struggles we face as we attempt to discover the meaning of our lives.
"It’s All So Quiet in Brooklyn," this collection’s longest piece, follows a young but aging musician as he approaches thirty and finds himself coping with loneliness and depression in the aftermath of several life-changing events. He feels utterly alone, so he leaves Ohio to search for meaning in the most unlikely place: Bed-Stuy Brooklyn.
"A Radically Attenuated History of Generation X" is, as the title suggests, an incredibly short story that attempts to summarize a particular ethos for an entire generation through the eyes of two characters on a dinner date.
The title story, "Falling While Sitting Down," follows an unnamed boy through eighteen years of growing up in an extraordinarily dysfunctional family, showing the emotional muscles it takes to survive such circumstances.
The collection’s final story, "The Loneliest Man in the World," considers the loneliness and real-life costs of poor relationship decisions from the point of view of a particularly troubled man.
Three Bonus Stories by Three Talented Young Writers:
As a bonus, three talented young writers—Colin Wright, Chase Night, and Mark D. Robertson—contributed to this collection, expanding the narrative beyond the scope of Joshua Fields Millburn's four stories.
"The Beam," by Colin Wright, tells the story of a sentient airport ceiling beam as it experiences self-doubt for the first time after an interaction with a man who’s struggling to find meaning in his life and intentions.
"When I Open My Eyes," by Chase Night, follows twenty-something Rafe Bradley as he wrestles with apathy and anger after a West Village gypsy woman tugs on a string that unravels his life.
"Up North," by Mark D. Robertson, is a short exploration of magical realism in South America. The story explores the way a mysterious canine illuminates in a depressed developing town in the northwest Andean mountains.
The seven stories in this collection vary drastically, but they all share one thing in common: each story is about what it’s like to be a human being during incredibly complex times.
