Written during a period exile in Louisiana, "The Man Who Rowed Lake Pontchartrain charts the course of a man who must make sense of a friend4s death and the unusual hobby of another.   Through ten stories and a fable, the reader is taken into an extraordinary world where madness happens, goodness is challenged, and people confront a fate that may not be as it appears.   Whether with sadness or humor, paranoia or boldness, the characters all face obstacles which mark the unique boundaries of human understanding, as they strive to live in a world with a complex, opaque design.