Thing about Men

Masculinity resists a tidy definition, and this collection of stories does not attempt one. Its characters are fathers, sons, grandfathers, husbands, lovers, and solitary figures, and their working lives are varied: they teach, pose as models, work as gigolos, practice hypnotherapy, run school districts, ink tattoos, practice law, operate cremation equipment, and work in casinos.

Some of these men are wronged, while others do the wronging. Each is trying to find firm footing, or at least some measure of ease, in a world that no longer accepts the old assumptions about what it means to be a man. The stories contain both tenderness and cruelty, triumph and failure, with no one lesson gathered at the end.

Look closely at the people at the center of these pages and you will recognize them. They are ordinary men, the sort readers are likely to meet among their own neighbors, coworkers, and family.