Ariel Smart's Sensitive Stories Focus on
Small Moments, Big Issues
"Solid and appealing tales chronicle the upbringing of lonely Delia Harper in rural, agricultural southeastern California's Imperial Valley. Bittersweet images of post-WWII California pervade this collection of eleven short stories that are quietly poignant." --Publishers Weekly
The stories in Ariel Smart's debut collection, The Green Lantern, say much about difficult relations between parents and children. In many of the stories children have epiphanies that open their eyes to the varied ways in which the world can be something to be wary of. The parents in these stories, too, must come to grips with life as it is rather than as they'd prefer to serve it up.
Five of these stories involve the Green Lantern Motor Court in the arid, rural southeast corner of California. A lonely little girl, Delia, lives here with her widowed father, Frank, who, desperate to protect his daughter after the loss of his wife, is a pessimistic, fearful, and tyrannical father. But Frank earns our respect by loving his daughter and caring for her and by working hard in an uncompromising landscape. And Frank's right: it's not a safe world. There are threatening hoboes, cancer cells, and highway traffic. Delia is a wide-eyed girl who wants to learn more in spite of her father's fears. She wants companionship, and she misses her mother. Frank misses her, too.
The Green Lantern stories show us that Delia has strength, and that her curiosity will help her survive. These are bleak stories, but they are absolutely honest as they present life in the desert as both Delia and her father experience it.
Not all these stories take place in California, though all are tied to California in some way. The stories are universal in that they deal with people, the heart, revenge, desperation, desire of many kinds, and dangerous attractions.
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About the Author
Ariel Smart grew up in the Imperial Valley in rural southeast California, but now lives and writes in the San Jose area, where she teaches at De Anza College. |
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