A CATALOG OF SUCH STUFF AS DREAMS ARE MADE ON

Tales from Hong Kong at the end of the 20th century, superficially about pop culture and fads, are as relevant today as they were when they were first published in 1999.

Many of these short stories, or “sketches,” as the author calls them, have titles that evoke the time when they were written: “Windows 98,” “Hello Kitty,” “Bucket Hats,” “Teletubbies,” “South Park,” and “PalmPilot.” These quick portraits of the human condition appear to be about pop-culture preferences, clothing choices, food, relationships, sex, and careers, but they are as much about assumptions and how the appearance of things is not actually reflective of reality. In “Agnès b.,” a man becomes infatuated with a woman who shares his daily commute. When they finally speak, she confuses him with someone from her past. At other times, these undeniably human tales drift toward the absurdist and surreal. In “Red Wing,” a character, avoiding a boy, runs “faster and faster, higher than the flyover, the road, the ground, and the human world, into a country where no one could catch up with her.” Southie, the protagonist of “South Park,” hangs out with a group of street toughs in a local park. One of their number, a boy who won’t speak, is killed by triad gangsters only to be revived soon thereafter, much like Kenny from the American TV series. In “Birkenstock,” Tok Tok avoids confrontations by running away from them. She knows it’s time to go when her shoes have worn out, and then she always runs away barefoot, leaving her old shoes behind.

Feed your inner nostalgia monster some of these surrealist pop-culture bites.