Alligator Dance: Stories

Alligator Dance: Stories (Southwest Life & Letters Series) FROM THE PUBLISHER The richly textured stories in Janet Peery's debut collection nearly always depict people caught between two places - literal or figurative - or trying to understand the mysteries of a place in which they have found themselves and to apply that understanding to their lives. Whether the territory is cultural, sexual, or social, its bedrock is the heart. In "South Padre" an Oklahoma farmer and his wife take a trip to the Texas Gulf Coast where they encounter a test of their marriage and - each in a different way - the limits of their knowledge. Set in 1950s Milwaukee, "Alligator Dance" depicts a fourth grader's sexual awakening as she is attracted and repelled by a Polish boy's totemic words, images, and their mysterious meanings, and by her own confusing desires. Eager to please her lawyer father, a young girl in "The Waco Wego" accompanies him to a meeting with a murderer's mother at a truckstop where she confronts the complexities of blame, morality, knowledge, and compassion. In "Nosotros" the daughter of a Mexican maid in the Rio Grande Valley of South Texas, angered by her mother's subservience, is forced to examine her own relationship with the son of her mother's employer. The title story was listed as one of one hundred distinguished stories in The Best American Short Stories 1992. Two of the stories received Pushcart prizes, "Nosotros" appearing in Pushcart XVI and "Whitewing" in Pushcart XVII. "What the Thunder Said" will appear in the 1993 edition of Best American Short Stories. FROM THE CRITICS Booknews A debut collection of ten stories. The title story was listed as one of 100 distinguished stories in The Best American Short Stories 1992. Paper edition (unseen), $10.95. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) Dorothy Allison One of the best first collections I have ever read. -- Dorothy Allison, New York Times Book Review

Alligator Dance is a collection of stories by Janet Perry which introduce you to the Mexican culture and 'south of the border' mentality of a palette of colorful characters. South Padre (Story 1) shows what happens to character, Jesse Folcher, when he can't love the one he's with and what results in the end.Alligator Dance (Story 2) is written from a child's point of view on the aspect of the child's encounter with another child who is an outsider. Anyone who had grown up with 'unique' friends will recognise the disjointed and confusing thinking.The Waco Wego (Story 3) brings back memories of "To Kill a Mockingbird" when the child's father, who is a lawyer, works at attempting to help a local woman's son who committed a heinous crime.Mountains, Roads, The Tops of Trees (Story 4) is a love story, compacting a lifetime into a graceful gesture before death.Nosotros (Story 5)is a chapter excerpt that was developed into a beautiful 'love/hate' relationship story between two women in "A River Beyond the World."Whitewing (Story 6) is a story about subconcious prejudice that develops into concious hatred.Huevos (Story 7) is a story about a young man who takes action against events beyond his control and the realization that only running way will solve his own issues.What the Thunder Said (Story 8) tells a story about a young woman who assumes too much, takes too much, and looses everything at the end.Job's Daughters (Story 9) shows how cousins from two different cultures can come together as a family when there is a need.Daughter of the Moon (Story 10) shows that the difference between two grandmothers can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending upon what a child remembers. All these stories are beautifully written, give glimpses into different cultures or your own mind, where discoveries are made because of similar patterns of thinking.You will come away from this book feeling pleasantly surprised and entertained and wanting to think over the stories, perhaps reading them again to see what other lessons can be gained. I highly recommend this book for those looking for deep meaning for life and a variety of viewpoints.

We recently discussed this book in our book club and for the first time ever, there was a conformity of opinion. We all agreed that this collection should be high on any reader's list of "must read" books. Peery's ALLIGATOR DANCE is like a collection of family letters found stashed away in a great aunt's attic--they are our stories, and the stories of our mothers and fathers and brothers and sisters, and all the people we call family. The names and locations may be different, but we know these people. If you've ever spent time in a small town, you'll recognize the people and the attitudes in "The Waco Wego." If you're from Texas you're bound to feel that salt air whipping your hair in the story "South Padre" and smell the cumin and cilantro hanging thick in the air when you read "Nosotros," "Huevos" and "Whitewing." But these stories don't contain any "easy answers." Peery does what all good writers do-- she gives us more questions than answers and leaves it to us to sort it out. These are stories that resonate with humor and poignancy; stories that encompass the whole range of human emotions. They are funny and eccentric, touching and sad, but always full of life and love. At the bottom of all of them is the idea that we are all here by some great miracle of chance and that there is no understanding, no great insight of knowledge that will help us finally make sense of it all. All we can do is live life with humor and grace and, as she says in one story, "the maybe-hope of heaven." These stories, with their intimate glimpses into truth and love and human behavior, are like a compass to get us started in the right direction. Rebekah Mercer