I’m not entirely sure how to review this interesting, unusual work of seemingly semi-autobiographical fiction. The work follows the mundane everyday life of Sam, an unfocused vegan writer who bums about New York City (and occasionally elsewhere) shoplifting, drinking Synergy brand kombucha, chatting with friends on Gmail, and indulging in painfully self-conscious irony (he jokes about buying a "Spicy Chicken Sandwich from Wendy’s, and then not eating it). I have to say, "Shoplifting from American Apparel is one of the most concentrated slices of the life of my generation that I’ve yet seen put to paper. Lin’s distinct style, as short and terse as a Twitter update yet also redolent of modern 20-something culture, deals with banal hipster tropes via a backdrop of almost overdone literacy. An interesting and heady mix that are equal parts vapid and brilliant. A quick and breezy read, I definitely enjoyed “Shoplifting from American Apparel,” while it lasted. The novella is definitely a neglected form of literature, and one that Lin owned in this work- any longer, however, and its idiosyncrasies may have caught up with it, causing the work to become nearly unbearably self-referential. In any case, I am definitely interested in reading more of Tao Lin’s work to see if I can form a more coherent idea his style.