I so much love to find a book of short stories in which all of the stories are engaging and well written. Those in this collection were about Jewish folks, although the stories themselves were not about Judaism per se. Those of us who are Jewish will find something vaguely familiar about the characters - even in their generic settings.

The uncertainty of human relationships is the theme that binds the stories. In "The Cantor's Daughter", a girl rebels against her father's parenting. "Half a Day in Halifax" examines the relationship of the attraction of a young couple who meet on a cruise. "Rehearsal" brings to the forefront a family's preconceived ideas about a wayward member.

However, the most powerful story was the longest and last one. Named "The Headhunter", it told of Len, a down-and-out young man and how his career as headhunter began to bloom when he found a better job for a chemist named Howard Rifkin. A headhunter is usually not friend to his clients. Whether Len and Rifkin were truly friends was uncertain, but everything that bound their so-called friendship was tested in this remarkable story.

Every story of this book was good, but the last one simply blew me away. What an exceptional way to end an excellent book! ( )

I found these stories interesting and well-written. There were times when I had to suspend credibility, but overall I cared about the characters living in suburban New Jersey. ( )