Ranging from the bitingly reproductive antics of Baster to the dreamy, moving account of a young travelers search for enlightenment in Air Mail, this collection presents characters in the midst of personal and national emergencies. We meet a failed poet who, envious of other peoples wealth during the real-estate bubble, becomes an embezzler; a clavichordist whose dreams of art flounder under the obligations of marriage and fatherhood; and, in Fresh Complaint, a high school student whose wish to escape the strictures of her immigrant family lead her to a drastic decision that upends the life of a middle-aged British physicist.

Narratively compelling, beautifully written, and packed with a density of ideas despite their fluid grace, these stories chart the development and maturation of a major American writer.