Lost People [Paperback]

Paul Perry (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 2003

This fictional volume is a follow-up to Perry’s acclaimed collection of stories entitled Street People. Like that book, Lost People deals with the menial existences of characters caught up in everyday struggles for survival. Although, the stories work by themselves, they are more powerful as a whole. Abraham Maslow identified Food, Clothing, and Shelter in his Hierarchy of Needs. Yet, these people, like we all, need far more than that. For starters: how about love and affection, safety, and a sense of self and self worth? Inside these pages, Mexicans try desperately to cross the border; and people live in buses, in parks, prisons, half-way houses, and under bridges. One man calls home a cardboard box. A profound sense permeates these stories that the author is grateful for the gift of life, for roofs over his head, and for the ability of good and ordinary people to care for others. In a wonderfully secular way, without being preachy, these tales are a metaphor for good works. There’s a lot of befriending here and the endings are hopeful, contemplative, introspective, and courageous, like many of the characters.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

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 -- Street People (2000, Pocol Press) was his first -- and the characters only get better. His stint in the Army and his experiences while living in Japan, Korea, Germany, and several large U.S. cities texturize his writing. But his long stay in Texas (almost four decades) gives him more than passing familiarity with the Lone Star State and its hands-off way of dealing with those who have no boundaries.
-Barbara Elmore (Mud Pie Press)

Product Details

• Paperback: 190 pages
• Publisher: Pocol Press (July 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1929763158
• ISBN-13: 978-1929763153
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 6.1 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #5,608,358 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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