What's Important Is Feeling

By Adam Wilson

Book Overview

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.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0062284789
• ISBN13: 9780062284785
• Release Date: February 2014
• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.5" x 5.8" x 8.0"