First published 2015
A greedy salesman discovers a collection of photographs that may not be legally obtained. His desire for the images leads him into murky territory where ownership and obsession blur. A young lawyer working to ensure hospital equipment meets standards offers what seems like a simple gift, only to find himself confronting the complex nature of giving itself. The battered piano that Dooley Wilson played in the famous film sits for an interview, voicing complaints about its rough treatment during production. A folding chair in a barbershop reflects on its existence until the day a bomb destroys everything. Disney-style creatures assume human concerns and anxieties, inhabiting a world shaped by childhood imagination. These six stories transform everyday objects and situations into vessels for examining human nature, desire, and the strange relationships between people and the things that surround them.
Genres: fiction, short-stories, literary-fiction, contemporary
Vibes: intimate, suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Period: 20th-century, 21st-century
238 pages · Hardcover · Knopf