I agonize over things like this - the order of things, section titles, all this architectural sort of stuff. Takes me years to figure out.
Peter OrnerI agree with the Lev Tolstoy quote completely, but I also feel like there's more to it. What is a happy family and an unhappy family? We're probably both of those things at the same time.
Peter OrnerI think anything we do - eating, walking down the street, online shopping - gives you another perspective on writing stories.
Peter OrnerA stellar, fully-realized collection of stories... grounded, wonderfully, in the river valleys of western Maine. You come away not only understanding a place but the soul of its people.
Peter OrnerLike no other writer in contemporary American literature, Brock Clarke has a way of looking at us, I mean looking straight at us--warts, lots of warts, and beauty and hypocrisy and love, too, the gamut. And hes done it again in this brilliant The Happiest People in the World, a novel that is as hilarious and thought-provoking as it is ultimately, deadly, deadly serious. I for one am grateful hes out there--watching our every move.
Peter Orner