In the stories that make up Together, Apart, the heroes aren' t very heroic. They are flawed. Failures. They are people figuring out how to grieve when their losses should feel more like relief: a teenage boy who loses the egg he was supposed to care for like a child, a mother whose son can' t find happiness in a strange book. But this collection is not just about failure- it' s about resilience. Ben Hoffman writes with unwavering compassion, from the many ex-wives of a recently deceased father to the brothers who listen to their parents fighting in a hotel, hoping instead to hear some sound, some sign of love. Put your ear to any of these stories and you' ll hear it.
"Ben Hoffman's stories are fantastic, funny, feverish, and in love with language. The conclusions they reach are genuine ideas and they float into the reader's mind so beautifully, so full of a certain kind of intelligent life."
