title: Camping With Strangers: Stories
author:  Sarah Nawrocki 
description: "My favorite card game is solitaire," says Tamar, the narrator of the title tale in this debut collection. It's an apt metaphor for the many alienated characters who populate the 10 stories that seek to define the destructive aspects of our culture. Loveless unions abound, as do inattentive parents, emotionally desolate families and the kind of soulless suburban neighborhoods that connote individual isolation. In the finely wrought "Dogs," a young girl establishes a trusting friendship with an older man, her next-door neighbor, only to have him betray her. In "Pressure," a young woman's visit to her divorced father reveals her lack of connection both to him and to her boyfriend. At the same time, she sees no available remedy: "She'll sleep for a long time, and when she wakes up, they'll still be in the same old life, wishing for better. The present will devour the future, and quietly, too." Many of the stories have this depressing atmosphere. "Louise and Al Get Married" announces in its opening sentences that a couple is doomed to an unhappy marital relationship; the story then follows the betrothed as they move toward their cheerless fate. In "Boys," the collection's strongest story, a teenager takes out her frustration with her distant, self-involved parents by setting up daily "appointments" with local boys, who spread wild stories about what she does with them. In fact, she does nothing, and each boy is sent on his way to brag about his "conquest." Nawrocki makes some trenchant observations about the loneliness of many contemporary families. Over the course of the collection, however, this sense of isolation is often so profound, so all-encompassing, that it saps the energy from her more compelling characters and vivid storytelling. <br />Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.
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  I pulled my bag onto my shoulders and stood, testing the weight of it. Did we
  have to hike to the campground? “Gabriel packed all my clothes. I need more?”
  
  He shrugged. “Probably not. I just get used to hearing about girls packing
  half the house.”
  
  “Can we bring the house?” I asked. “At least the heater part?”
  
  His smile faded. “Peanut, don’t tell me you’re an indoor girl.”
  
  I shook my head and leaned into him a little, putting a hand on his chest. “I
  like the idea of camping, but I was thinking of how cold it’s been at night.”
  
  His blue eyes were intense and he pressed himself against my hand before he
  put down his bag on the bed and covered my hand with his. “If it’s too much
  for you, you tell me. I’ll make sure you stay warm.”
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  The Academy
  
  The Ghost Bird Series
  
  First Kiss
  
  ♥
  
  Book Ten
  
  ♥
  
  Written by C. L. Stone
  
  Published by
  
  Arcato Publishing
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  Copyright © 2016 C. L. Stone
  
  http://clstonebooks.com
  
  Published by Arcato Publishing
  
  http://www.arcatop