This had a strangely profound impact on me, given it took so little time to read.

These are frank, wry, and very immersive worlds that come to you in bursts, in the form of a bunch of short stories. There was something devastating in how simple they were, with how much of myself I could see in them from time to time; I felt like some of them had me in a Glassons changing room with those horrible overhead fluorescents that make you look like an irradiated sumo wrestler.

Tobias Wolff is a master of observation. I get the sense he could see through anyone, including people who are just relentlessly ordinary. Everyone has something they don't want someone to see, but this man has the clearest eye for human nature I have experienced in a long time.

I've always wanted to be someone like this. Perception is one of the most fascinating forms of intelligence.