Realistic dialogue sweeps these stories along, all the pauses and fragments that make conversations credible without the tedium and repetition. The pacing is steady and the arcs restrained.

Everyday life - whether one brother visiting another with a child in tow, or two siblings driving to see their grandfather one last time before he dies - is interrupted by the unpredictable. "Wilderness begins at the end of every street."

The question of motivation sometimes lurks, sometimes looms; family members disengage and strangers offer spontaneous confessions; individuals strike out at the world and the returning blow is startling, disorienting.

(Originally appeared on BuriedInPrint.) ( )