Donald Harington has said his writing of Lightning Bug was meant to be a last farewell to the village of Drakes Creek, Arkansas, the place that for him represented the idea of his childhood.

Consequently, the novel deals with the nearly universal experience of losing what one loves and the desire to find a way of restoring that lost love. This desire is akin to wanting to stop time, to triumph over death, as Harington suggests in the name he gives his fictional community—Stay More, Arkansas. Related to this experience of trying to cope with the loss of what one loves is Harington's depiction of the role art plays in the way we deal with loss. Through his intricate method of narration in Lightning Bug, Harington shows how the art of storytelling helps us endure, if not triumph over, loss.

Another concern is how...