Michael Piafsky’s debut novel is a beautifully rendered character study following the life of a Midwesterner from boyhood on. Piafsky writes with precision, finding meaning, and even beauty, in both the mundane and dramatic elements of an ordinary life. Shelf Unbound: You follow the main character from childhood to middle age. What was the starting point? Michael Piafsky: The earliest we see the character is at 7 years old, although in those early scenes he is even less reflective than in later chapters. In terms of the writing, the earliest chapters
written had him at various stages—but mainly in that border-town between 30 and 40, bookending what Dante called the midpoint of life. Shelf: Why did you choose to write this novel in the second person? Piafsky: The second person is a double-
UNBOUND
7