"A truly great novel in the tradition of Charles Dickens and John Irving." --Marc Schuster, Small Press ReviewsIn his fourth award-winning book, Christopher Meeks offers a comic and compassionate coming-of-age novel. A young Minnesotan, Edward, is blessed with an abundance of "experience"--first when his mother dies and next when his father, an encyclopedia salesman, shoehorns Edward into a private boys school where he's tortured and groomed. He needs a place in the universe, but he wants an understanding of women. Edward stumbles into romance in high school, careens through dorm life in college, whirls into a tornado of love problems as a mini-mart owner in a trailer park in Alabama, and aims for a film career in Los Angeles. In nine chapters, the reader experiences Edward's life from ages 14 to 45. This novel follows Meeks's highly acclaimed collections of short stories, The Middle-Aged Man and the Sea and Months and Seasons. Carmela Ciuraru wrote in the Los Angeles Times Book Review of Meeks's first book, "This idea resonates throughout the collection: Meeks's characters seek happiness in the small things because they have no choice ... [The stories] are poignant and wise, sympathetic to the everyday struggles these characters face."Author and humorist Sandra Tsing Loh has said, "Christopher Meeks's quirky stories are lyrical and wonderfully human. Enjoy."