Supernatural, confusing events
In the collection, there are fortune-tellers and dream interpretations and ghost stories and teleportations to the past, and so on. The collection is supernatural in tone, perhaps to show a greater thematic meaning, such as the strange interconnectivity of seemingly disparate coincidences. The effect is that the reader must puzzle over fate and coincidence.
Violence, tragedy, and death
The collection also consistently treats the issues of violence, tragedy, and death. Look for instance at poor Billy Sanchez in "The Trail of Your Blood in the Snow," whose unfair mistreatment makes a widower out of the newlywed. Also the ghost story about the castle builder is violent and tragic. The boys' friends drown in "Light is Like Water." This theme serves to draw constant attention to the fundamental subject matter of the collection: the problem of human suffering.
Frustration and failure
Most stories could be described as frustrating, because many central characters in the stories are forced to come to terms with situations that are ironic and disappointing, and in stories like "The Saint," this disappointment is the result of failure. In "Bon Voyage," the president fails to improve his terrible pain. In "I Sell My Dreams," the interesting dream-interpreter is killed in a random wave. There are examples of this theme in most stories in the collection.
