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Reviews
"Elated By Details reads in a deliciously extravagant and indulgent manner, luring one in for more despite the compelling grip of self-destructive human nature that so prevades the tongue-in-cheek tales. An engrossing cavalcade of human drama leaving the reader hungry for more."-Midwest Book Review
"Elated By Details . . . is a collection of small gems aimed squarely at folks who remember Woody Allen's longer prose pieces for The New Yorker. . . Striking a balance between lightheartedness and "serious" storytelling, Freedman establishes himself firmly as a contemporary storyteller with an ability to bring characters to life. Few contemporary short story writers have the skills (or ambitions) of Freedman, and one can only hope that a second collection will be forthcoming."-Bookslut
"Bringing [a British] flair to his short stories, but using his American voice, Freedman ... brings life to the 12 short stories comprising Elated by Details ... There are plenty of side-splitting stories ... such as the character who suffers from denial and, literally, gets a job in a fantasy land."-24/7 (Courier-Life Newspapers)
"[N]onsensically brilliant . . . Adam Freedman is a witty and talented writer [who] looks at the world with a sardonic grin."-Blether Reviews
"The stories . . . test the reader's ability to suspend disbelief in order to discuss very palpable feelings and human interactions."-New York Resident
"I actually hate most contemporary fiction, but I probably would have shelled out my own grubby coin for Adam Freedman's book because the sections he read from were very funny. Also, he's that rare writer who knows how to give an entertaining reading of his own work."-Catherine Seipp, UPI columnist, writing in the weblog Cathy's World
"Elated by Details . . . pokes fun at the American obsession with reinventing ourselves. The characters of these diverse stories suspect that life offers something more for them and they're determined to get it. With mischief and cunning, they search for escape routes from schools, jobs and relationships that seem to hold them back . . . What they find, though, are ever more creative ways to avoid the messy business of growing up."-The Citizen (Mahomet, Illinois)
"Freedman has a novelist's eye and comedy-writer's pace."-Fareed Zakaria, author of The Future of Freedom
"Like all good authors, Freedman himself is elated by details, and these wicked and wise stories catalogue those details with pace and verve, precision and vivacity. One is tempted to make comparisons to Woody Allen, J.D. Salinger, Dorothy Parker, and other masters of the short story, only, Freedman arrives in full possession of that great, essential gift: a voice uniquely his own."-Andrew Lewis Conn, author of P, The Novel
The Argentine novelist and critic, Pablo Baler, had this to say about Elated by Details:"Adam Freedman's stories kept reminding me, line after line, why we love reading. His fascination with language is contagious, his observational skills are microsurgical and his rare gift for timing makes him a bull's eye satirist. Freedman's tales grab us not by promising an unexpected resolution (it's always some degree of shameful defeat) but more remarkably by their ingenious premises and fun-house developments made credible by a never-ending gallery of subtly dysfunctional characters. Romantic lawyers, self-loathing artists, bisexual womanizers, tech-savvy rabbis, faint-hearted dot.comer's, palindrome obsessed students or just plain horny scholars. Lesser mortals who seem to have found a working formula for disaster. Just like we did."Freedman has managed to redeem the old genre of the education novel: adolescence is here not a stage but the essence of our lives. Self-deprecation not just a way of being, but a worldview. Apprenticeship reflects not a passage but the recursive journey of our moronic species. Only in Adam Freedman's unique sardonic style can all this make for great comedy! Failure is funny, yes, but the tragedy of our stranded destiny is hilarious."