YOU MUST BE FAMILIAR WITH WOLVES' HOWLS BUT HERE YOU WILL SEE THE HUMANS HOWLING.Pain is a fundamental part of the human experience, which means that it's a fundamental part of storytelling. It's the root of some of our best metaphors, our most elegant writing. Characters in fiction suffer, because their suffering mirrors our own. Some of this collection of short stories explore themes of catastrophe, death and despair, while others talk of love and longing, with them all being highly complimented by readers with emotive writing skills. In the short story 'Donkey-Man', we read about a man who lived all his life among animals and writer, as a child, is surprised to know that he was a human. In the story "In Search of God' we meet a character who is confused by different religious sect and defines God in his own simple way. The villagers, who claim the real follower of God, don't allow him to live in the village, but he is welcomed by God. In the story, "The Last Storyteller", the narrator is at odds with a changing world. Through his three windows, he is offered glimpses of beauty and joy, but, alas, reality intrudes. On the way to capturing his tale, the windows show him the grace of the blue bird who sings in his garden, the joy of the young boys playing cricket by the graveyard and lastly, the sadness of a mysterious figure, the Last Storyteller, whose livelihood is as endangered as that of the rare bird's. Although some of these stories do deal with rather gloomy thoughts of life, they are all written in such a way that the stories told are interesting to read and really do make you think. This collection of short stories is definitely an interesting read with some of the questions not always being fully answered. And with many of the stories covering such dark subjects you will truly find it a hard book to put down.