Daniel Handler: Adverbs November 9, 2010

Consisting of sixteen adverbs (immediately, obviously, frigidly, not particularly, soundly, etc.) that present intersecting situations that range from the archetypical -- the teenage yearnings and embarrassments of a high school crush, the first homosexual stirrings of an adolescent boy, a clandestine tryst between a taxi driver and his fare -- to the sublime, 'Adverbs' entertains appearances from The Snow Queen and a simmering volcano below San Francisco, which threaten to topple the proceedings. With unexpected repetitions and shifting narrative perspective, Handler has much to say about the constant inconstancies of love.