Witty, wry, often humorous. The kind of empathy I think most good stories need to have for short stories to hit. There’s just no time to build anything otherwise. From an old bitty bigot ruminating on an actress she once knew who was very nice for someone who isn’t actually French enough, to the a very short story about people literally In Transit at an airport - these stories are usually defined by a really great rendering of interiority.

I wouldn’t say they’re very “active” and they’re not connected, so they are probably out of vogue. They are exceptionally well written and vary in interest but are never in any danger of being put down by me when that happened, which is probably the best endorsement I can think of for a collection. There’s also advice on reading short stories I did not take: Read a story, put the book down. They are self contained and not meant to be parsed together. I have heard this advice elsewhere, and one day I might do it. Probably, it does make you remember and think on each one more. Even still this was very enjoyable in a 3 sitting format.