Barbara Ras

That's surprising.

I have loved Ras's "You Can't Have It All" for years. And I still do, but I see now why someone dismissed it as overly sentimental. And I'm not as struck by the other poems in this collection as I would have thought I'd be — the imagery isn't dramatic or unusual, the vocabulary doesn't do startling things. I'm a little disappointed.

This enjoyable collection of short stories is a nice companion to any visit to Costa Rica. The stories are "literary" in nature...one shouldn't expect explorers crashing through rainforests chasing after "savages", nor anything related to 2012 doomsday prophecies or pyramid-top sacrifices.

The stories do, however, provide a nice bit of color and flavor to each of Costa Rica's different regions. Visitors to the northwest province of Guanacaste will be a bit disappointed by only one story show more focused on that popular travel destination. show less