A review by djrmelvin
You Are Not a Stranger Here by Adam Haslett

4.0

All of the stories in this collection deal with characters that are suffering emotionally. Sometimes, it is because of psychosis - in The Volunteer a woman who's break with reality occurred during the birth and death of her only child is befriended by a young man going through first love while his family fails to deal with it's own mental illness. Sometimes it is grief - in The Beginnings of Grief a young man masks the pain of the death of his parents by subjecting himself to abuse from an equally troubled fellow student; and several of the stories have persons suffering from bipolar disorder at the center. I'm not sure what Adam Haslett's background is, but he sure knows his stuff when it comes to pain.