I did appreciate that Tower bucked one trend at least; lots of other collections link the stories and characters together in small or large ways. This one is that one's granddaughter or co-worker or the person they hit with their car. I really enjoyed those, but it's not the route Tower chooses (though, I kind of was hoping that the last story would link them all together. It didn't).
What does link the stories together is pain, loneliness, divorce (almost all of them had at least on divorced character), and humanity. They were little snapshots of people really screwing things up, and it was pretty awesome.
My favorite story was about a kind of homely teenage girl, Jacey, whose glamorous, ballerina cousin visits and makes her feel childish and dumb and undesirable. She tries to make herself feel better, but only makes herself feel worse. Been there, done that.
The book is about older men with unresolved issues, sons and daughters dealing with selfish parents and stepparents, and husbands and wives just trying to find happiness. Also the last story is about Vikings, which is really random but also cool. Something for everyone, I guess.
Anyway, I recommend it. It's a really fascinating look at human relationships.
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