This book reminds me of Anne Tyler's books, transplanted from Baltimore to Detroit: we're invited into the life of an ordinary person who has to work things out before he can have a satisfactory relationship. The book pays off in many ways. The prose is highly polished, so you can enjoy it simply as an piece of great writing. The descriptions of junk items are terrific -- these alone are worth the price of the book. The author makes great use of humor. Best of all, the book resolves in a beautiful and satisfying way. I can't wait for Zadoorian's next novel.

This is the story of a man who is obsessed by junk. He is obsessed by estate sales and thrift stores. Just after his mother dies, he starts an affair with Theresa, who works in an animal shelter, trying to look after abandoned pets, and killing them when she can't. Our hero falls in love with Theresa, the first time in his life that he has done so. But she cannot reciprocate because she is too emotionally scarred by all the pets that she has killed.

The other part of the plot is the hero's own discovery of who his parents really were, through the junk that they left behind. Together, he and Theresa come to terms with their respective losses, in a beautiful ritual, which marks the book's culmination.

I found the characters both interesting and sympathetic. They all had something to admire and something not to admire. You get a detailed description of the lives and problems of people who make a living from junk and of those who work in animal shelters. I found myself wondering how you can stay sane, if you spend your days killing pets that people discarded like old clothes. They also develop in a believable way. I didn't find them annoying in any way, unlike some reviewers, but then, your mileage may vary.

This is essentially a story about two people who expect to live lives without love. At times they love each other, and for a lot of time they hate each other. It's a bit like "Frankie and Johnny". How it all ends is not at all predictable and the way it ends is so wonderful as to verge on magic realism.

I picked up this book because I love the whole range of second-hand stores, from true antique stores to odd-ball thrift stores.

In this book, Richard owns a fairly "hip" second-hand store in a run-down part of Detroit (much to the horror of most of his family, including his suburban country-club sister). When Richard's mother passes away, and he culls through the bric-a-brac of his parents' lives, he learns about his parents' past, and the choices that they made. At the same time, he commences a relationship with another lover of "junk" who is demonized by her job at an animal shelter, where she is required to euthanize animals on a daily basis. Richard's efforts to assist her come to peace with her personal torture also bring him to peace with his choices in life.