Eric Puchner

A boy on the edge of adolescence fears his mother might be a robot; a psychotically depressed woman is entrusted with taking her niece and nephew trick-or-treating; a reluctant dad brings his baby to a coke-fueled party; a teenage boy tries to prevent his mother from putting his estranged father's dogs to sleep. Ranging from a youth arts camp to an aging punk band's reunion tour, from a dystopian future where parents no longer exist to a ferociously independent bookstore, the stories in this collection revolve around the endlessly complex, frequently surreal system that is family.

Stories

Last Day on Earth

Dream State

Eric Puchner’s Music Through the Floor was one of the best-received story collections in years. His debut novel, a sweeping yet intimate story of the American dream in remission, viewed through the microscope of a single family, proves yet again just “how exhilarating it is to come across a young writer as technically gifted and emotionally insightful as Eric Puchner” ( The New York Times Book Review ).. The Zillers—Warren, Camille, and their three children—live the good life in a gated Southern California neighborhood, but the sun-bright veneer hides a starker reality. As Warren desperately tries to conceal a failing real estate venture, his family falls prey to secrets and misunderstandings, both hilarious and painful, that open fault lines in their intimacy. Their misguided attempts to recover their former closeness, or find it elsewhere, lead them into late-night burglary, improbable romance, and strange acts of betrayal. When tragedy strikes, the Zillers are forced to move to one of the houses in Warren’s abandoned development in the desert. By turns tender and disturbing, irreverent and profound, Model Home is a masterful display of Eric Puchner’s prodigious gifts and penetrating insight—both into the American family and into the imperfect ways we try to connect..

A Novel

Model Home

Music Through the Floor

A first collection by a Pushcart Prize-winning young writer includes "Children of God," in which a loner becomes a caretaker for two mentally challenged men; "Essay #3: Leda and the Swan," in which a lonely high school girl longs for love; and "Child's Play," in which a pack of boys wreaks havoc on Halloween night. 25,000 first printing.

Eric Puchner

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