"What?" about The Illumination by Kevin Brockmeier

How would you twist reality to reveal behavior?

Brockmeier’s twist:  “The world had changed…No one could disguise his pain anymore.”

What writer had opened Brockmeier's eyes to the possibilities of fiction?

What's going on in the chapter composed entirely of ten-word sentences?

What is suffering good for?

Meet Carol Ann Page, who first witnesses The Illumination and who compares love notes she’s found to how her ex-husband had despised her.

Meet Jason Williford, a photojournalist who recovers from a car accident and gets attracted  to a group of  "cutters."

Meet Chuck Carter, an abused boy who can sense pain even in objects, is bullied at school, and devises rules to control reality.

Meet Ryan Shifrin, a man who seems appointed by God to survive calamity and wander the world.

Meet Nina Poggione, a writer on a book tour, whose mouth affliction makes speaking an act of bravery, and love a rare happening.

Meet Morse Putnam Strawbridge, a homeless man and bookselller who can empathetically enter people's minds.

Meet the late Patricia Williford, whose journal of love notes her husband had written her describes her personality in dozens of observations.

What picture results from overlaying the characters’ stories?

Jason "had read somewhere that the best way to keep a marriage healthy was to find one new thing you loved about your partner every day.”  The novel's love-notes continue to be generated on Twiitter at illumination_book.

Read review of The Illumination.