These stories' climaxes feel unearned, even confusing - as in the case of "Search Bay," the book's last and longest.

As a result, much of the narrative tension that is derived from withheld information feels hokey and unearned.

But when it comes, Gary has sunk to a level where he seems too bad to be good, and it feels unearned.

The characters lack depth, and a crucial romantic relationship feels forced and unearned.

Man and boy bond over their profound - if profoundly unequal - entrapments, yet the depth of trust Douglas wrests from Moses feels unearned.

It's a fun failure, in places, with a sense of power that feels almost unearned.

The fact that his tidy happy ending feels arbitrary and unearned, as is often the case in his works, is probably the point.

But the story is so schematically histrionic that the bringing in of the Holocaust late in the day feels exploitative and unearned.

If the revelation at the book's end feels unearned, Mr. Ferris can be both emotionally resonant and quite funny.

But that makes the big therapeutic payoffs at the end feel easy and unearned.