Lost People
Paul Perry (Guest Reviewer - Barbara Elmore)
2003 Pocol Press
ISBN: 1929763158
Stories about the homeless who live among us. For some people, home is just a cardboard box.
Guest Reviewer Barbara Elmore writes:
A person wouldn't mind getting to know Paul Perry's pals in Lost People, his second book of short stories from Pocol Press. They aren't the people next door unless you live next door to a park or an underpass. But they are honest and multi-dimensional.
Perry's lost people are the homeless, the mentally ill, old war veterans, ex-cons who served their time for crimes that don't seem all that criminal. These are the people we're all a little bit too scared to look in the eye.
And yet!
You have to admire the ingenuity of men & women who use their combined wits & a healthy portion of kindness to subdue a violent man who needs his “meds” (“At the Place”, Page 151). If Matt kicks his habit (“A Matter of Touch”, Page 145), we want to throw a party. & who wouldn't try to hire the honest man who lost the best pair of shoes he ever had (“Barefoot on the Interstate”, Page 175)?
You'll have to keep reminding yourself this is fiction. Reading Paul Perry's colorful descriptions where these nomads live & how they get through the day, you can't believe he doesn't know each one personally. The authenticity in his tales, the compassion, the humor & pathos, all tell you he's been there.
For example, here's a description of the main character in “Aaron Who Lived on Buses” (Page 83): “Aaron had been living on buses for more than two years. It had started after he ran away from the Army, only an hour after arriving at Fort Jackson -- That's how long it had taken him to realize what he was going to have to put up with for four years and, since he hated it already -- they were marching them around, making them stand in lines, yelling at them, treating him much like his father had always treated him -- he decided he'd better be on his way.”
Paul Perry is a retired assistant professor of English at San Antonio (TX) College who teaches despite his retirement. Lost People is his second collection of stories about the disenfranchised, & the characters only get better. His stint in the Army & his experiences while living in Japan, Korea, Germany & several large U.S. cities, flavor his writing. But his 40 years in Texas give him more than passing familiarity with the Lone Star State & its hands-off attitude toward dealing with those who have no boundaries.
Anyone looking for solutions to ending homelessness should not look here. Lost People offers no fixes. It doesn't preach & takes no political stand.
But if you have only a passing, guilty awareness of the homeless, if you think they're all criminals or drug addicts, take a look. Paul Perry has a way of gently stretching all boundaries.
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