Just finished local author Stephen Lovely's debut novel Irreplaceable, an exploration of life and grief in the aftermath of tragedy. If you are an Iowa Cityan, you might know the lovely author from his work with the Iowa Young Writer's Studio (the book has some really hilarious jabs at the occupation of student essay grader -- anyone who's been a writer in Iowa City knows someone, or is the someone who has graded those dreaded essay portions at the ACT offices in town.
I responded most to the author's empathy for his characters -- all people left behind and forced to go on after a young woman dies in a biking accident and her heart gets donated to a stranger in Chicago. Lovely even had me feeling bad -- if only kind of -- for the pretty unlikable guy who hit her with his truck. Also, kudos to me for avoiding any puns about this book being all heart in the review I wrote for corridorbuzz.com.
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