Book Description Lost, teetering on the edge of normalcy, Puchner's characters seek to define themselves in a frequently absurd and hostile world -- a world that threatens to make outcasts of us all Caught up in loneliness or solitude, they can't quite hear the music of their own lives In "Children of God," a young loner becomes the caretaker ожънг and companion for two mentally retarded men, seeking solace in their outsider status "Essay #3: Leda and the Swan" is told in the forlorn, be-nighted, and tragically funny voice of a high school girl who longs more than anything to be loved In "Mission," an idealistic ESL teacher is faced with the inscrutable wrath of one of his immigrant students And in the unsettling "Child's Play," Puchner explores the price of nonconformity by following a pack of boys wreaking havoc on Halloween.  Монография2005 г 224 стр ISBN 0743270460.