Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

This is the story of one summer in the life of James Sveck, aged eighteen. James is a sophisticated, vulnerable young man with a deep appreciation for the world, and no idea how to live in it. His parents are suspect, his sister is pretentious, and the world that awaits him in the form of college and a career looks frightening and bleak. It's the story of a moment in adolescence when the next step seems too momentous to even contemplate, when the mere prospect of love is overwhelming, when the mysteries of the adult world seem both terrifying and irresistible.