Some People Let You Down

Alberti’s well-crafted debut collection creates a thorough portrait of rural life. In “Woods, Kansas,” teenage Jenna dates older man Wayne, and an adventure he promised falls short after they drive out of town with his friend and a gun stowed in the glove compartment. In “Summer People,” set in upstate New York during the Vietnam War, nine-year-old Lorna witnesses her older brother’s accidental death after he falls from a rope swing. Lorna would’ve remained broken if not for her friendship with Janine, an adventurous girl whose mother cleans houses for vacationers and whose father is stationed on a nearby Army base. In the title story, 10 year-old Abby spends weekends with her father, Cam, who is newly divorced from Abby’s mother. While buying pumpkins at a farm, Cam is rebuked by the farmer in front of Abby (“Here’s a family place. You stay in town with the rest of your kind”). At the time, Abby doesn’t understand, but later her mother fills her in. While the revelation in this story is not a big surprise, it builds like the others on a significant situation with finely honed prose. Alberti demonstrates a graceful talent for short fiction. (Nov.)