TAKE THIS FOR THE PAIN

Alex Boyd is a writer who has embraced befuddlement—at the world, and the weirdoes inside it, at the systems under which we labour and lament. These essays are wise, full of wit, and—most important—a blast to read. Some of the fun is in watching a guy stumble through the seasons of life, learning, unlearning, considering, reconsidering. Some of it’s in seeing him hold on, heroically, to unhip ideas like the power of books to set our minds right. Reading Take This for the Pain is like eavesdropping on a chat between brilliant disembodied brains—the author, the progenitors who fed and watered his writing, and his cohort, with whose work he so energetically wrestles. You’ll want to chime in, pile on—agree, disagree, nod your head, frown—and that's part of the fun too. -- David Whitton, author of Seven Down