It's all in your mind

One of my goals this summer was to reread some books I enjoyed the first time around, and I’ve been doing that. Most recently, I finished Neal Shusterman’s Unwind again, and it held up well.

In particular, I admire what he did in Chapters 60-61.*  I noticed that these chapters—which have earned the horrified respect of every writer with whom I’ve discussed them—achieve something quite special. They paint a very detailed picture while supplying only a few, well-chosen details. Although what the...