Small Bird, Tell Me: Stories of Greek Immigrants in Utah

Struggling and honest miners, the wandering gamblers who relieve them of their wages and the irresponsible, Americanized children of first-generation immigrants are among the predictable characters peopling this uninspired debut collection about the lives of Greek immigrants in Utah. The best story, ``The Coffeehouse Election of 1922,'' describes an immigrant community divided into opposing factions because of elections in Greece. Its charm lies in its uninflected, history-book prose, but this style does not always serve Papanikolas, a historian by profession, so well. ``The Letter Writer,'' for instance, is nothing more than a synopsis of its protagonist's life. Most of the characters are well-meaning and dull; a few, such as Zacharias in ``The Kamari of the Village,'' are vicious--and dull. Despite the obvious care the author takes in portraying this subculture accurately, her book remains lifeless. (Oct.)