Most of Tobias Wolff's stories do not depend on a detailed description of a particular location for their effectiveness. Wolff tends to provide some general suggestions which place the story within a recognizable region, but beyond the necessity for sufficient detail to support the realistic mode which Wolff employs, the stories are not anchored to their settings. In one of the most powerful stories in the collection, "Firelight," a woman and her teenage son are searching for an apartment in an unnamed city. Eventually, the boy mentions that they have been in Seattle for several years, but the story does not require any knowledge of the demography or geography of that city. References to Husky Stadium indicate that it is the University of Washington whose campus they pass through, but any large university would be equally appropriate when they look at an apartment that belongs to an idealistic...