The eight stories and the novella that make up The Man Who Gave Away His Organs: Tales of Love and Obsession at Midlife, by Richard Michael Levine, have the cultural scope, time span, and in-depth character development usually found only in novels. As the subtitle suggests, the mostly middle-aged protagonists have reached some crisis in their lives, generally revolving around love and obsession, in some cases obsessive love, when an unexpected turn of events or twist of fate leads them in new, unanticipated directions. Even when they explore ideas, the stories are intimately connected to life...