Light Action offers many calm, beautiful and captivating stories that feel like they are being told in the strong and easy voice of one of the main characters, Emory.

For me, the book would have been a monumental Perfect 5 if "The Mappist" - truly brilliant - had been featured in place of the totally unpleasant and unwelcome Title Story. ( )

The stories in this collection are varied and artfully written. Barry Lopez is very good at taking you to a place where you think you know you’re going – then slewing into a new – but perfectly done –direction. The title story is a vicious example. Others gently and gracefully explore our deepest emotions (Remembering Orchards, The Letters of Heaven). A worthwhile collection. ( )

Lopez, Barry. Light Action in the Carribean. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 2000. I bought this book on a whim because I loved Lopez' About This Life, because it was autographed at Barnes & Noble, and because I was disappointed not to hear him read at Elliott Bay Books. The book is a collection of fiction. In all of the stories, the writing is beautiful. However, for the most part, Lopez tells the modern vignette-style story; he creates pretty, static scenes. Sometimes, even when there is overt action (such as Stolen Horses), things seem curiously detached. However, there are some real gems. RubMendoza Vega was delightful for its innovative storytelling style (The Kiss of the Spider Woman taken to an extreme). Emory Bear Hands' Birds is a lovely little fable. I enjoyed The Mappist because it captures my opinion of the importance of understanding the world we live in. The most memorable story is the title story, Light Action in the Carribean. Lopez does a great job developing characters, developing an interesting plot, and then throwing an amazing curve-ball ending that perfectly captures the senselessness of violence.

A mixed bag of eclectic short stories, of varying style and quality. Well-written for the most part, I liked best "Thomas Lowdermilk's Generosity", about a middle-aged gardener who becomes the subject of scandalous rumor when he marries a younger beautiful woman, "Mornings in Quarain", about a man's attempt to retrieve his murdered mother's manuscripts from the Muslim extremists who killed her because of them, and "The Mappist", a lovely tale about a man's homage to an old mapmaker who still believes in creating maps, and everything, slowly and with loving care. One story, the satiric "Ruben Mendoza Vega...", is an almost unreadable one-joke mess, and the title story, "Light Action in the Caribbean", focuses on a new couple's vacation to the caribbean, building sympathy for the woman and mild contempt for her lover, until a sudden and jarring conclusion that leaves a bad taste of ashes in the mouth. But the stories described earlier redeem the book as a whole. ( )