Adam Johnson is a great writer. Having just won the National Book Award for "Fortune Smiles", he joins rarefied status as a Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner. This book is his first and consists of short stories. He deals with the usual issues of growing up, feeling alienated, dealing with parents and kids, but he does it in a creative setting. He has a story about a 15 year teen sniper that works in Silicon valley shooting terrorists that go after software companies. This is a backdrop to his coming of age and dealing with a first love. Another story is a wild creative romp about Canada developing a moon shot in the early sixties. The writing is a great and he is very entertaining. It is easy to see from this first output how he developed into one of our best writers. Check him out. ( )

This felt like a pale George Saunders imitation to me - very few of the stories really engaged me at all. ( )