Tunneling to the Center of the Earth by Kevin Wilson

Ummm...what to say? This book was weirdly good. I mean I am still considering how and what to think of this book. There are eleven short stories and author's interview at the end. Here are the stories:

Grand Stand-In
The woman who rents herself out as a grandmother usually to families that had lost their grandmothers but do not want their children to miss the fun or are too coward to tell the children about the loss.

Blowing up on the Spot
The main character works in a Scrabble factory sorting the tiles to look for the letter Q. His younger brother is suicidal ever since the parents passed away. How did they die? They exploded and there were no explanations.

The Dead Sister Handbook: A Guide for Sensitive Boys
This is formatted as a guide (thus the title). There are topics and then instructions. For example, one of the instructions stated what to do when the brother finds the sister's diary.

Birds in the House
A competition is planned to see who will inherit the ancestral mansion after the death of the mother. The narrator, daughter of one of the brothers, witnesses death and greed into action as each brother fights to win the mansion.

Mortal Combat: (I do not think I can say anything else without giving away the entire story.)
Two guys fondle each other once while studying in the library. One friend wants to advance and the other does not. Then there is the game, Mortal Combat.

Tunneling to the Center of the Earth
Three friends graduated from college with degrees that are useless in the real world. With having nothing to do, they dig and dig and dig.

Shooting Man: This story was my favorite.
The circus comes to town and one trick is that one guy shoots himself and comes back to life. The guy convinces the wife to go to the show. Later he goes back to the circus to learn the truth.

The Choir Director Affair (The Baby's Teeth): I felt that this story was pointless.
There are two parts to the story. The first part is about the father having an affair and second part is about the baby having full set of teeth at that age and the narrator's fascination about them.

Go, Fight, Win
Penny (16) is a cheerleader in her school. She has a relationship with a 12-year-old boy who lives across the street.

The Museum of Whatnot
This story is about a lady who takes care of a museum, which collects other people's obsessions, which are donated after they die such as collection of regular spoons.

Worst-Case Scenario
This story is about a man whose job is to tell people the worst-case scenarios (disasters they might face in their lives).

There is definitely more to the stories than what is written here like human nature, dysfunctional families, feelings, emotions, and more. My favorite one was the "Shooting Man" and I enjoyed "Grand Stand in," "Birds in the House," and "Go, Fight, Win." Some stories were too much out of the ordinary and I just did not know what to think of them. I felt some stories were unfinished. Some were depressing, but some had happy endings.

If you ever decide to pick up this book, which I recommend you do, do read the interview at the end. Kevin Wilson will dive into the reasons he started writing. I give this book 8 out of 10.