San Francisco

San Francisco is a collection of eleven slice of life stories which could be set in any city, or in any place. I am guessing that perhaps is the point of these stories. That San Francisco has so lost its charm that it is no longer differentiated by its quirky international flavor. The first story in the book, however, is about a Chinese police officer tracking a lost German girl. His rescue mission disappoints her for some reason that is inexplicable.

I wanted to read this book because of its title. I expected that there would be big city settings to evoke remembrance of this vibrant city. In the world of advertising, if one’s headline fails to deliver on its product’s promise, it is a failure. It is not that these stories are difficult to read or unskilled in craftsmanship, it is that they are mundane. This reader expects more from a book headlining arguably the greatest city in the world.