What's Important Is Feeling

Bankers prowl Brooklyn bars on the eve of the stock market crash. A debate over Young Elvis versus Vegas Elvis turns existential. Detoxing junkies use a live lobster to spice up their love life. Students on summer break struggle to escape the orbit of a seemingly utopic communal house.

And in the title story, selected for The Best American Short Stories, two film school buddies working on a doomed project are left sizing up their own talent, hoping to come out on top--but fearing they won't.

In What's Important Is Feeling, Adam Wilson follows the through-line of contemporary coming-of-age from the ravings of teenage lust to the staggering loneliness of proto-adulthood. He navigates the tough terrain of American life with a delicate balance of comedy and compassion, lyricism and unsparing straightforwardness. Wilson's characters wander through a purgatory of yearning, hope, and grief. No one emerges unscathed.

Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Published: 02/25/2014
ISBN: 9780062284785
Pages: 224
Weight: 0.39lbs
Size: 8.02h x 5.78w x 0.53d

Review Citations: Publishers Weekly 12/09/2013
Booklist 02/01/2014 pg. 25
Kirkus Reviews 02/01/2014
Entertainment Weekly 03/07/2014 pg. 71
New York Times Book Review 07/27/2014 pg. 30