In this collection of shorter pieces, Victor J. Banis demonstrates once again the astonishing breadth of his talent, covering virtually every facet of the human experience with astonishing brevity and clarity. Here are pathos and heartache, love and horror, irony -- and humor, especially humor, dry and wry and roll-on-the-floor-clutching-your-sides funny. It would be a hard man indeed who could read the adventures of his Underground Diner -- which take up much of the last half of the book and aptly skewer the ubiquitous and often pretentious food writing column -- without guffawing aloud.