Among the Missing - by Dan Chaon (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

NATIONAL BOOK AWARD FINALIST - A sharp and haunting collection of twelve stories about people who live far outside the American Dream, while wondering which decision, which path, or which accident brought them to this place.

"Unforgettable . . . hums with life and wry humor . . . The stories sneak resolutely up on you, like new weather that hits before you know it."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

Each story in Among the Missing radiates with sharp humor, mystery, wonder, and startling compassion as Dan Chaon imagines today's family instinctively trying to stay together, only to find itself lost in the throes of a chaotic, modern world.

In "Safety Man," a young widow and her children become increasingly attached to an inflatable protector-doll, as the world outside seems to grow ever more threatening; "Big Me" follows a lonely, imaginative twelve-year-old boy who believes an older (slightly creepier) version of himself has moved in next door; In "I Demand to Know Where You're Taking Me," a man blinded by love for his imprisoned brother ignores the warnings of his distant wife and a talking parrot who both witness things he's never seen; and "Among the Missing" explores how the death of a family, found buckled in their car at the bottom of a lake, casts a shadow on a small town and intrudes upon the narrator's relationship with his aging mother.

A writer of enormous talent and emotional depth, Chaon mines the psychological landscape of his characters to dazzling effect. Among the Missing lingers in the mind through its subtle grace and power of language.

Review Quotes

"One of the best short story writers around . . . Dan Chaon's stories are funny, heartbreaking, beautifully written, and intelligently conceived."--Lorrie Moore, author of Birds of America

"Unforgettable . . . hums with life and wry humor . . . The stories sneak resolutely up on you, like new weather that hits before you know it."--The New York Times Book Review (Editors' Choice)

"These stories are ingeniously conceived and shrewdly written. They intensify the pathos of life--the ordinary loneliness, the disintegration of family bonds, the loss of growth, the strength to continue. Dan Chaon writes with understanding, insight, and restraint. Among the Missing is an important collection of stories, a genuinely literary accomplishment."--Ha Jin, National Book Award-winning author of Waiting

"One of those writers who possess an uncanny and seemingly otherwordly understanding of the human condition . . . Chaon [is] a remarkable chronicler of a very American kind of sadness, much in the tradition of Richard Yates, Raymond Carver, and Denis Johnson. Like these writers, Chaon offers prose that's straightforward, chiseled with a Hemingwayesque clarity and deceptive simplicity. . . . These stories are to be savored."--San Francisco Chronicle

"These twelve stories--filled with compassion, sensitivity, and a quirky brand of humor--will stir readers to recall their own deepest moments of fear and sadness. Chaon's characters struggle for meaning and connection, but they do so with quiet dignity, which is why (aside from the author's precise, elegant prose) this collection is so pleasurable to read."--The Washington Post Book World

"Brilliant . . . an outstanding collection . . . Every one of these stories is gem."--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

"Rewarding . . . Chaon is a writer who can convincingly squeeze whole lives--the ones we lead and the more alluring ones we so eagerly imagine for ourselves--into a mere twenty pages or so. He writes beautifully. . . . His repeated grappling with questions of choice and chance in ordinary people's lives, far from feeling repetitious, yields rich rewards in its every variation. Chaon's seriousness of purpose and gifts of observation are enough to suggest that when any roster of skilled practitioners of the American short story is drawn up, he should definitely be counted present."--Chicago Tribune

"These are memorable, mighty stories told by a master. An absolutely stupendous collection!"--Karen Joy Fowler, author of We Are All Completely Beside Ourselves

About the Author

Dan Chaon is the acclaimed author of Fitting Ends and Other Stories. He was anthologized in Best American Short Stories 1996 and The Pushcart Prize 2000. He has been published in such magazines as Story, Ploughshares, and Triquarterly, and has received many prizes and honors including a grant from the Ohio Arts Council. He lives in Ohio with his wife and children. He is currently at work on his first novel.