The fable-like stories in A Sense of the Whole--reminiscent of the best of Kawabata, Hrabal, Lispector, and Kafka--create profound effects on the reader within very short spaces. Small in size, but not in resonance, Siamak Vossoughi's stories feature characters who refuse to believe that we are unconnected, refuse to not aspire to the notion of the human family across all manner of differences. These characters are girls and boys, men and women, Iranians and Americans, all seeking a home for the body and the soul.