Stardust, 7-Eleven, Route 57, A & W, and So Forth: Stories

by Patricia Lear

A collection of eight short stories that offer a liberationist view of life in the South features "Ironman," "Solace," "Hot," "Graceland," "After Memphis," "Believe Me, Mr. Phoebe," "Licensed for Private Exhibition Only," and "Powwow."

161 pages, Hardcover

First published March 31, 1992

About the author

She lives in Evanston, Illinois. She studied with Gordon Lish in New York City, and with Mary Robison at Bennington College. She was awarded a Tennessee Williams Fellowship at The University of The South. She was awarded an Illinois Arts Council Award for Literature.

Reviews

[Chris - Quarter Press Editor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hard to really say about this one. It was one of those collections that the stories I liked, I absolutely loved and stood in awe of Lear's prose. However, the stories I didn't like, I didn't like. In all honesty though, I will admit to this being a taste issue on my part as the writing style is not the voice of my choice. One thing I have to give her hats off to though is that Lear has a VERY distinct voice--more so than most writers I've read. That in and of itself makes this book worth the read.

[David · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really like Lear's word choice and sentence structure. Every word and every sentence is carefully constructed to bring out the feeling of the characters and the story. It really brings out the feeling of the South for me in the stories. I think Solace was my favorite of the stories just because of how vivid the characters are.