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

Lear's lyrical first book, a collection of eight stories, transports readers to languorous Southern towns where families find air-conditioned comfort at the local Dairy Queen and the mail's daily arrival is viewed as an event. The descriptions here are remarkably synesthetic: we seem surrounded by the thick air of a motel room, where a vacationing group bickers and eats greasy fried chicken; we are immersed in summer sun on a lawn where a man and his pack of hyperactive dogs congregate; we feel the humid air and the coolness of ice cream while sluggishly lounging in a living room. Throughout, there is a sense of time relentlessly oozing by, of kids growing up and of individuals adjusting to adversity. Healthy people frequently witness or experience the fragility of the infirm; for instance, in ``Ironman,'' an athletic woman sustains an injury that tempts her to relinquish goals and surrender to a drab life with her estranged husband, while in ``Graceland'' a dissatisfied city dweller fearfully suspects her own life might not improve with either time or experience after visiting a terminally ill, elderly friend. Mortality, boredom and change are explored in a collection whose leisurely pace contrasts with its characters' desperation. (Apr.)