This was an interesting read, if somewhat unsatisfying. These are short stories which almost read like morality tales. The foibles of flawed humanity are explored. Often they revolve around mis-communication or lack of communication. The one I liked best which illustrates this is the powerful story "Perfect Crime" in which a wife pushes her husband off a cliff. She is accused of murder and remanded for two years, in which she professes her innocence. In that time she tells over and over the story of her happy life and happy fulfilled marriage to a great man. In the telling she convinces herself she didn't really do it, but mostly she finds it hard to understand why she could have done it. And it stems from her suspicions of a too happy life and a noxious friend who is a gossip monger. When she finally gets her hands on her husbands possessions, which she thinks will reveal his unfaithfulness and duplicity, she discovers he has a secret... which I won't spoil.
The style isn't all that fluid and I think it is because of the translation. I imagine it reads beautifully in the original.
Worth a read but won't be for everyone.
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