Translator's note -- Friends. Boy in the twilight -- Why there was no music -- Victory -- Appendix -- Mid-air Collisions -- On the bridge -- Sweltering summer -- Timid as a mouse -- Their son -- The skipping-and-stepping game -- Why do I have to get married? -- Friends.
Summary:
In the title story, a shopkeeper confronts a child thief and punishes him without mercy. "Victory" shows a young couple shaken by the husband's infidelity, each scrambling to stake claims to the components of their shared life. Other tales show, by turns, two factory workers who spoil their only son, a gang of townsfolk who bully an innocent orphan, and a spectacular fistfight outside a refinery bathhouse. Taken together, these stories form a snapshot of a nation, lit with the deep feeling and ready humor that characterize its people.
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