Getting Better All the Time: Las Vegas Writers Explore Progress by Aurora Brackett
My rating: 2 of 5 stars
This book is a collection of short stories and articles presented as part of the Las Vegas Writes project. Thanks to the authors for their work and the editor for putting this group of writers together. As Las Vegas matures, it will continue producing talented local writers who understand the various perspectives of Las Vegas.
However, I found this particular collection underwhelming. As someone who has read lots of Las Vegas based and themed literature, this collection contains splashes of insight, but on the whole I was left with few fresh perspectives.
The group of stories presented in this collection contain the typical Las Vegas strip and gambling stories, but also some stories of the suburban experience. I think these suburban Las Vegas experiences are particularly important to understanding the current and future Las Vegas. The suburban perspective is captured tellingly by Henry Brean’s article entitled “Growing Up”, which talks about the perspectives of the contemporary suburban Las Vegas father.
Also worth mentioning is Sarah Jane Woodall’s article about camera girls and the strip work life experience, which I think many locals will relate to.
