Only Son

"Kevin Moffett’s debut novel follows the arc of his narrator – an only son, natch – from the childhood loss of his father, to an adulthood as the father of an only son himself. Of course, that plot summary does little justice to this slim suburban Buddha of a book, which is composed of a series of short vignettes that are so simple, subtle and sweetly melancholy, they almost resemble Zen koans — though no koan I’ve encountered has, like this book, gotten me giggling enough to alarm passersby."