Slimming Down and Other Stories

The nine stories in this collection are, chronologically, about childhood, adolescence, youth and middle age.  All the stories locations are either centered in Japan or America both. In these stories, a lone boy encounters a policeman, the son of a failed writer struggles to be as great as Hemmingway, a young man and a woman have a short and intense affair on a train, An art dealer loses his love and cooks fish for the first time, A Japan scholar struggles in American academia, A Japanese professor battles with her rival as her daughter vanishes, An adulterous American starts a new life in Japan, A Long Island wife tries to get back her husband after he has run off to Japan.  Betrayal plays a central role in these stories about civil duty, avocation, love, marriage and friendship. There is despair and desperation in these stories but also hope, if only a faint hope.