These twelve short stories are assembled in the chronological order in which they were written, from 1964 to 1994. Neither the style nor the themes changed much through the years. I liked the newer ones much better though: leaner and better for it. The stories are about couples, sharing something commonplace and not quite whole. The conversations (including two stories that are just dialogue) are so awkwardly shallow that they almost made me look away in embarassment. But I didn't, of course.
There was one story, though, which seemed to me perfectly crafted. In It's Raining Out, an older judge is in a 30 year marriage where there is convenience but no love. He has a brief, almost inconsequential affair with a much younger woman who had appeared before him in court. One languid afternoon the woman asks him finally, "What's the point of such a marriage, Martin?" And after much thought, the judge replies, "Maybe so that when I come home in foul weather like this I can say to someone, 'It's raining out.'" And he does precisely that, in an ending which was wryly amusing, unexpected and completely satisfying.
If this was itunes, you could just buy that one instead of the whole CD, but be plenty happy with the purchase.