These stories introduce characters who are all seeking the thing they most want—whether it be a ride home, artistic freedom, or sanity. Everyone is looking for something. In “Pretty Girl,” a young woman meets an older man—and it’s unclear who is taking advantage of whom. In “Leaving Big Sky,” a drug addict finds company while her company finds himself. In “Not Terribly Important,” a woman desires to teach her students the love of literature while being stymied by her conservative community. Other stories also feature a search for that thing that will make a person whole.
I was particularly taken by the story, “Not Terribly Important.” I found the narrator to be a very interesting character; a teacher in a conservative small town whose writing ambitions and worldview are much bigger than her current job. I found the relationship between her and her boss, the principal, to be interesting and not unlike many conservative schools across the country. I like that the character wrestled with whether or not to censor the stories she was giving her students—to black out curse words would make things easier for her, but it breaks her code of literature appreciation and respect. What is this teaching the students? It is a battle to which anyone in education can relate, and I found the story to be a nice representation of the internal struggle between what is right and what appeases the masses.
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