Adolescence is a riveting thing to live through. That embarrassing thing that happened to you in eighth grade remains embarrassing for life, and you can still tick off every detail of some freshman injustice when your mom brings up the subject. For this reason, a coming-of-age novel is always something of a double bind. On one hand, any book invoking adolescence results in a basic level of sympathy. But on the other hand, a novel of adolescence has to seek out new territory if it's going to move readers beyond simple, Pavlovian identification. Case in point: Walter Kirn's... More >>>