nThe discovery of a murdered man in a bathrobe by the side of a road, the destruction of a towns historic City Hall building, and the recollection of a cruel wartime decision are equally affecting in Orners vivid and intimate gaze. The first half of the book concerns the lives of unrelated strangers across the American landscape, and the second introduces two very different Jewish families, one on the East Coast, the other in the Midwest. Yet Orners real territory is memory, and this book of wide-ranging and innovative stories remains an important and unique contribution to the art of the American short story.