{"product_id":"it-all-felt-impossible-42-years-in-42-essays-9781941628355","title":"It All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn this meditative and lyrical collection, Tom McAllister challenges himself to write a short essay for every year he's been alive. With each piece strictly limited to a maximum of 1,500 words, these 42 essays move fluidly through time, taking poetic leaps and ending up in places the reader does not expect. Funny, insightful, and open-hearted, \u003ci\u003eIt All Felt Impossible\u003c\/i\u003e aims to tell the story of McAllister's life through brief glimpses, anecdotes, and fragments that radiate outward and grapple with his place in the culture at large. In the span of these essays, McAllister witnesses a monorail crash at a zoo, survives a tornado, plays youth sports for tyrannical coaches, grieves for dead parents, learns how to ride a bike as an adult, works long shifts making cheesesteaks, and more. Each annual offering is a search for meaning and connection, chronicled by an engaging and honest voice. A testament to the power of creative constraints and finding innovative ways to tell one's story, \u003ci\u003eIt All Felt Impossible: 42 Years in 42 Essays\u003c\/i\u003e is a compelling document of an idiosyncratic human existence that volleys so skillfully between the mundane and the profound that readers will find themselves marveling at these essays long after they have read them.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eMcAllister, Tom:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eTom McAllister\u003c\/b\u003e is the author of the novel \u003ci\u003eHow to Be Safe\u003c\/i\u003e, which was named one of the best books of 2018 by \u003ci\u003eKirkus\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eThe Washington Post.\u003c\/i\u003e His other books are the novel \u003ci\u003eThe Young Widower's Handbook\u003c\/i\u003e and the memoir \u003ci\u003eBury Me in My Jersey.\u003c\/i\u003e His short stories and essays have been published in \u003ci\u003eThe Sun, Best American Nonrequired Reading, Black Warrior Review\u003c\/i\u003e, and many other places. He is the nonfiction editor at \u003ci\u003eBarrelhouse\u003c\/i\u003e and co-hosts the Book Fight! podcast with Mike Ingram. He lives in New Jersey and teaches in the MFA Program at Rutgers-Camden.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rose Metal Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":51260286206226,"sku":"9781941628355","price":12.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_c4e01ec7-7c33-47b4-beec-2c873b5aba89.jpg?v=1746641032","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/it-all-felt-impossible-42-years-in-42-essays-9781941628355","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}