I want to marry this book. All the stories in it are unbelievably heartbreaking and astoundingly beautiful. “An Apple Could Make You Laugh” is the most frustrating love story I’ve ever read, “People Are Becoming Clouds” makes sense in a way that it shouldn’t, and reading “I Want The Quiet Moments Of A Party Girl” made my lungs ache. “Art School Is Boring So” is about you, and if it is not, it is about the person who bought you your subscription to this magazine. Meno has a voice that is simple but never simplistic– each of these stories builds carefully and delicately until you’re completely involved in the world he’s created. Nothing seems forced, and so nothing seems implausible– not even a woman with a miniature city inside of her or a boy who has become a firecracker. Demons In The Spring is the best book I have read in a long, long time, and if you have any common sense whatsoever you will go out and buy it as soon as you possibly can. (Emma Healey)
by Joe Meno, 300 pgs, Akashic Books, 232 Third St., Suite B404, Brooklyn, NY, 11215, akashicbooks.com, $24