“Compassionate, clear-headed, reliable, and funny. If a book could be the best man at my wedding, I’d choose this one.”—Dinty W. Moore, author of Dear Mister Essay Writer Guy

“Curious yet compassionate, deft yet relentlessly frank, Joey Franklin explores the inner lives of men, reveals the intimacies and complexities of marriage and fatherhood, and dignifies the lives of ordinary people—all in utterly lucid and graceful prose.”—Lia Purpura, author of Rough Likeness: Essays

“Traversing the distance between the love notes penned in middle school and Shakespearean sonnets, Joey Franklin’s essays are marvels of balance and surprise, ordinary life and soulful loving, careful listening and the drive to connect. . . . If the culture is awash in hyperbole, as Franklin suspects, this book—graceful and disarming—is our antidote.”—Mary Cappello author of Awkward: A Detour and Called Back