Name: Local Souls
ISBN: 9780871403797

Allan Gurganus

Returning to his mythological Falls, North Carolina, home of Widow, the author presents three novellas set in today's South, a place revolutionized around freer sexuality, looser family ties and superior telecommunications.

Local Souls

Daryl Houston

When I picked this one up from my library, I didn't realize it was a set of novellas. I haven't read many novellas, but the ones I have have been tough. I think it's kind of an awkward form -- long enough to feel a little too long but not long enough to feel like a big hearty novel you can really get into. It's like the awkward teenager phase of fiction that nobody really wants to be all that much involved with.

The first two in this collection of three, and a good half of the third, fell pretty flat for me. The words and sentences were good, but the stories didn't do much for me. They didn't seem to have much emotional freight, and so they seemed oddly sized curiosities, little exercises in building a sense of place and maybe a little sense of character. But of course knowing that the story would be chopped off pretty soon after the development had built, I had trouble really connecting with either the fictional town of Falls or its inhabitants.

Well into the final novella, Decoy, after the catastrophe that basically bifurcates the thing, the piece took a turn for the better for me, and I thought the last 20 - 30 pages were good. But, 30 pages out of 300 make for pretty slim pickings, so it's not one I'd suggest.

Local Souls

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