The three narratives by Lawrence Weschler here joined together were conceived from the start as a sort of triptych: three tales about basically decent expatriates (the first an Iraqi, the second a Czech, the third an Afrikaner), each of whom tries to do the right thing with regard to the totalitarian regime holding sway over his homeland - the thing we readers, too, might have done, if only we were much more courageous than we are - only to end up thoroughly wracked and bollixed.