cover image Bigger 'n Dallas

Bigger 'n Dallas

Kurt Tidmore. Grove/Atlantic, $17.95 (185pp) ISBN 978-0-8021-1393-1

Bigger 'n Dallas, the bar-dancehall at the edge of the small West Texas town of Tyrone, is central to the lives of the 13 characters whose stories are related in respective chapters here. Most of the characters are linked in some way, and by the near-disastrous climax, which involves six of them, we've become involved with the lot. Evoking climate and personalities with affection, Tidmore offers a varied cast: Lucille Marie Wintergarten is ``17 years old and on her way to 30 with no stops in between.'' Her aunt Lucinda is a beauty whose image is marred by an unmoving left eye, `like a headlight.'' Jerry Wintergarten, ```a man who tried to do right,'' is confused by his wife, daughter and everything else. Independent Sharon Ann Morrison has ``been lonely sometimes, but that's often what strength costs.'' Among the book's joys are a wonderful rant by a late-night-radio preacher, a dreamy description of baton-twirling and Lucinda's getting-ready-for-the-bar routine. The chapter devoted to Sharon could be vintage John O'Hara. Tidmore, who wastes no words, is someone to watch. (June)