Aaron, Approximately — Zachary Lazar

Aaron Bright has the dubious honor of being the son of a fool-actually a clown and the host of a popular TV kidie show in Colorado. Often the target of ridicule, young Aaron is initially willing to accept the taunts of his peers out of loyalty to his father. But when a a misguided publicity stunt ends in tragedy, Aaron is prematurely thrust into an adolescent sphere of dislocation, insecurity, and rebellion as he struggles to make his way without a father. Intelligent, sensitive, and confused about his identity, Aaron transforms himself into a would-be clown, wearing strange clothing and cracking jokes about himself to hide his uneasiness. From self-mocking buffoon to self-loathing punk rocker, Aaron tries to on mask after mask in an effort to both satisfy his father's legacy and transcend it.

An outsider from the start, the hilariously endearing yet overwhelmingly conflicted Aaron shows us what it is like to need attention so desperately that one would sabotoge both family and love to satisfy its call. Ringing with the truth of what it means to have grown up at the end of the twentieth century,Aaron, Approximately marks Zachary Lazar's debut as a refreshing and intelligent new voice in American fiction.