For Clay Blackall, a lifelong resident of Providence, Rhode Island, the place has become an obsession. Here live the only people who can explain what happened to his brother, Eli, whose suicide haunts this heartbreaking, hilarious novel-in-fragments. A former movie star impersonates himself; an ex-con looks after a summer home perched atop a rock in the bay; a broken-hearted Salutatorian airs thirteen years worth of dirty laundry at his school's commencement;...

Highlights the geography, government, cities, currency, people, customs, and culture that make Japan unique in an increasingly globalized world.

"Two very different people, one very small island. For Sophie Ducel, her honeymoon in French Polynesia was intended as a celebration of life. The proud owner of a thriving Parisian architecture firm, co-founded with her brilliant new husband, Sophie had much to look forward to--including a visit to the island home of her favorite singer, Jacques Brel. For Barry Bleecker, the same trip was meant to mark a new beginning. Turning away from his dreary...