If You Lived Here You'd Already be Home

John Jodzio, whose recent breakout collection Knockout was hailed by the New York Times Book Review ("every story inventive and a pleasure to read") and NPR ("He's a compassionate writer who is refreshingly unafraid to take risks, and his book is, well, a knockout") returns with this expanded and updated edition of his cult classic. Jodzio has been lauded for his writing that delicately walks the line between the pain and humor of human experience, the small truths that are exposed through ludicrous situations and the captivating characters that must navigate them. A middle-aged masochist in love with a comatose man. A gay birthday clown lamenting the loss of his beloved dog. A boy whose job is to pretend he's the dead son of a lonely divorcee. And a bikini model who wakes up form sunbathing to find a barnacle has stuck itself to her butt cheek. These are just a few of the characters who populate the world of If You Lived Here You'd Already Be Home, a world that allows absurdity without sacrificing realism, a world that is at once melancholic and optimistic. John Jodzio once again deftly documents his characters' disappointments, frustrations, and longing for a home that seems forever out of reach. By turns bleak and hopeful, cruel and tender, this is the reintroduction of an exciting literary debut by a writer with a unique and compelling voice.