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An incisive, poignant, often hilarious exploration of contemporary relationships, Things That Pass for Love goes way beyond the “dating scene” to include portrayals of fractured families, urban schools, small towns, book clubs, cults, academia, golf culture, and—yes—sex in modern life.  Whether a cybererotica writer whose would-be suitor is in love with her dog, an aging professor obsessed with the student destined to surpassed him, or a man meeting his illegitimate son for the first time on a pumpkin picking excursion, Allison Amend’s characters are more than whip-smart and laugh-out-loud funny, they are chillingly real, lonely, memorable people looking for love—or what passes for it—in a world where tenderness is elusive, yet sometimes achieved against all odds. 

“Nobody writes like Allison Amend—partly because Allison Amend doesn’t write like she’s only one person.  The stories in this fearlessly funny, insanely intelligent, delicately wrought collection are so varied, so accomplished, you will think you are reading an anthology of many masters’ works.”
 —Thisbe Nissen, author of The Good People of New York and Osprey Island

“Like John Cheever’s enormous radio, Allison Amend’s stories channel disturbing voices from that unknowable world that exists outside our doors.  First collections are often like petit fours, precious and sweet.  Amend has served up something much heartier, a plate-crowding smorgasbord.”
—Justin Tussing, author of The Best People in the World

“Allison Amend is a gifted storyteller—no, more than gifted. Her writing is powerful enough to create its own kind of weather. Her characters are so real it’s as if you could reach between the pages and shake hands with them. If you want to read good stories, read this book.”
—Hannah Tinti, author of Animal Crackers and editor of One-Story Magazine