“There is something about the book and these characters that is always on the edge, looking into an abyss, perpetually wondering and speculating. And at any moment it might collapse into itself. Whaley allows for tiny, understated moments of tension and anxiety. Cullen spends much of the book condemning other people, bluntly pointing out their hypocrisies. But when a girl he barely knows visits him he becomes overwhelmed, even afraid of her sincerity, as he realizes for the first time that his brother might really be gone forever. In a startling moment of empathy, he embraces someone who is unhinged in her loneliness, a bit deranged from medication.”

- Angela Yuen reviews Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley. (via therumpus)