 Frequently humorous and with a sense of magic and absurdity, these tales are told through the eyes of a young boy, and are tightly focused on the emotional lives of the characters.They nevertheless deal in this microcosm with larger historical and cultural issues including class and ethnic prejudice, politics, the effects of alcohol abuse on family members, the plight of Japanese-Americans during and after World War II, and the complex nature of heroism.O'Callahan has created other long-form adult stories from factual material, always from the intimate point of view of a central narrative character, and imbued with a sense of the mythic.