Within the Lighted City

The off-beat yet appealing characters in these nine stories include a pair of street-wise Detroiters, a puzzled angel, and the assorted members of a resilient family, all of whom grapple with twists of fate or the trouble they create for themselves. In "Stealing Trees," two teens are confronted when they range outside their neighborhood and must rely on their wits and a...
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The off-beat yet appealing characters in these nine stories include a pair of street-wise Detroiters, a puzzled angel, and the assorted members of a resilient family, all of whom grapple with twists of fate or the trouble they create for themselves. In "Stealing Trees," two teens are confronted when they range outside their neighborhood and must rely on their wits and a little luck. In "The End of the Crackhead," a man struggling with his past burns a coffin that contains an effigy of his former self. In the title story, a woman whose marriage dissolved in the aftermath of a stranger's kiss is buoyed by the joking kindness of her quirky brothers. Although these tales are weighted with loss, they are also humorous, and running through each is the deep love the author feels for her characters and that they feel for each other. By turns heartbreaking and restorative, in language lyrical yet clear, Within the Lighted City is savvy and soulful, optimistic and brave.

Praise for Within the Lighted City:

"Perfect dialogue . . . hip, funny, wary stories marked by precision, lucidity, and daring." --The Grand Rapids Press

"Ann Beattie has always displayed keen vision in analyzing contemporary literature; this time she's shown it by selecting Lisa Lenzo's story collection for the University of Iowa Press's 1997 John Simmons Short Fiction Award. Lenzo's nine stories, set in and around Detroit, remove just enough of the solid foundation from beneath her characters' footing. Some, like the teen-agers in ''Stealing Trees,'' imperil themselves without very much outside help, slinking into a ghetto to filch trees they plan to replant elsewhere. More quirky, even divinely foolish, is an angel named Thomas who appears in another story, botching his between-lives assignments and suffering the consequences. The remaining stories form a novel-in-pieces about the Zito family, all but one told by a daughter, Annie. Of these, ''Burning,'' ''Waiting'' and the title story stand alone brilliantly, capturing family love, personal tragedy and swelling disillusionment as Annie steps into adulthood during the 1967 riots in Detroit, learning that even her strong father can't make the world safe. Beattie has said she admires stories that yield the ''surprise'' of a recognizable world freshly rendered. In Lenzo's collection, that surprise is everywhere." --The New York Times

"Lisa Lenzo has forged her own personal Detroit literary tradition. Her work, like that of iconic Detroit poets such as Robert Hayden and Philip Levine, sings with soul and compassion." --Stuart Dybek, MacArthur Fellow and award-winning author of eight books, including Paper Lantern: Love Stories, The Coast of Chicago, and most recently, The Start of Something: Selected Stories.

"These stories are achingly lyrical but never sentimental, street-smart without being callous. Lisa Lenzo's stories have a strong pulse of feeling and a sly intelligence, and her angels, children and lovers have an eerie radiance, a hard-won wisdom, that you can spot on any page of this book." --National Book Award Finalist Charles Baxter

"Make no mistake, the place has a language, Phillip Levine writes of Detroit in his poem ''Coming Close.'' Detroit does have a language, and its skillful articulation is what makes Lisa Lenzo's debut collection such a compelling read. The subtle violence that propels these stories and the untenable hope that endures is what make Within the Lighted City a haunting and oddly inspiring collection." --Black Warrior Review

"Lenzo balances dread with determination, endowing her characters and her prose with offbeat grace and resolve." --Publishers Weekly

"Lenzo writes beautifully." --The Detroit Free Press