The characters in Director of the World and Other Stories are often distanced, lonely, or displaced from others and the events around them, yet they are almost always ready to act, to become involved with others, and to change. In “Eyes of Others,” a woman, stopping with her family at a Howard Johnson’s during a trip, becomes fascinated by the meeting of two strangers and attempts to connect with her own family. Two teenaged girls in “While Mother Was Gone with 571” play a practical joke on a lonely neighbor and watch from the roof of their house as the consequences unfold. These characters, and others in the collection, attempt to make sense of their broken lives and shattered thoughts.