The Paris Review Book of People with Problems

introduction by Stephin Merritt // The Paris Review / Picador

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Photograph by Jon Shireman

Break glass in case of emergency. This anthology collection is the emergency solution to people with problems.

I had a difficult time trying to make the book appear to be behind a sheet of glass. I added blown­out glares and white gradients, but that just obscured the small type too much. My designers Rob Grom and LeeAnn Falciani came up with the idea of adding a reflection of a room on the edges of the glass. This gave it depth and placed it in the right setting. Spot gloss on the glass finished it up. Brilliant and subtle.