Thirteen stories from a modern master "Brodsky is a master both of technique and of language, his sentences positively crackling with unexpected insights."-- Publishers Weekly "Brodsky possesses a masterly control of diction and rhythm, an often startling metaphoric gift, and a range of effects extending from Swiftian bluntness to Proustian elaboration."-- The New York Review of Books "He brings the reader to reflect anew on ways of knowing and truths of being in an uncertain world."-- The New York Times Book Review