The Books

Desert Town

by Bonnie Geisert
Illustrated by Arthur Geisert

One Potato Review

Another in the series of meticulous portraits of small town American life from Bonnie and Arthur Geisert: they’re believers. The handicap here is the heat (in place of Mountain Town‘s snow which the residents are terminally digging themselves out of) but it’s also, in many ways, a blessing, as the community makes a point of lingering in the air conditioned shelter of the corner grocery, and gathers together in the evenings for dancing, basketball, even a little smooching where no one can see. There’s blight around the edges here – shacks blowing down in sand storms, an old school bus mouldering on the outskirts – still each of these towns is so dependent on the seasons that renewal seems always right around the corner. Incurably optimistic.

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