This is a coming-of-age, coming-of-understanding, coming-of-forgiveness novella—and a really quite good one. The tale starts with the improbable, yet somehow perfectly realistic situation of an unexploded bomb crashing into a school and ending up on a young student's desk during a drill. This student happened to be under his desk at the time because he was the only one who did the drill correctly. Perfect, I thought. That's *exactly* how life happens.

Even given the improbable yet perfect opening scenario, "Duck" didn't feel as manipulative nor as discomfitting as some coming-of-age stories do (to me). Much of the credit for that probably goes to the author's writing style, which is engaging yet somehow comforting. I had no idea what the tale was about or what sort of things I'd be encountering, so I read tentatively at first. By the time I was done, my journey of growing confidence and trust as the reader felt like a part of the story.