American Salvage (Made in Michigan Writers) (Made in Michigan Writers S.) - Softcover

Campbell, Bonnie Jo

3.98

2,728 ratings by Goodreads

9780814334126: American Salvage (Made in Michigan Writers) (Made in Michigan Writers S.)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0814334121 ISBN 13: 9780814334126

Publisher: Wayne State University Press, 2009

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A lush and rowdy collection of stories set in a rural Michigan landscape, where wildlife, jobs, and ways of life are vanishing. New from award-winning Michigan writer Bonnie Jo Campbell, "American Salvage" is rich with local color and peopled with rural characters who love and hate extravagantly. They know how to fix cars and washing machines, how to shoot and clean game, and how to cook up methamphetamine, but they have not figured out how to prosper in the twenty-first century. Through the complex inner lives of working-class characters, Campbell illustrates the desperation of post-industrial America, where wildlife, jobs, and whole ways of life go extinct and the people have no choice but to live off what is left behind. The harsh Michigan winter is the backdrop for many of the tales, which are at turns sad, brutal, and oddly funny. One man prepares for the end of the world - scheduled for midnight December 31, 1999 - in a pole barn with chickens and survival manuals. An excruciating burn causes a man to transcend his racist and sexist world view. Another must decide what to do about his meth-addicted wife, who is shooting up on the other side of the bathroom door. A teen aged sharpshooter must devise a revenge that will make her feel whole again. Though her characters are vulnerable, confused, and sometimes angry, they are also resolute. Campbell follows them as they rebuild their lives, continue to hope and dream, and love in the face of loneliness. Fellow Michiganders, fans of short fiction, and general readers will enjoy this poignant and affecting collection of tales.

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Review:

Campbell 's an American voice two parts healthy fear, one part awe, one part irony, one part realism.

The effect of American Salvage is that Campbell 's Michigan lingers and cannot be ignored or forgotten.

The effect of American Salvage is that Campbell s Michigan lingers and cannot be ignored or forgotten. "

Campbell s an American voice two parts healthy fear, one part awe, one part irony, one part realism."

A strong collection. The pieces are rich in original detail, and highly atmospheric, while maintaining a satisfying sense of familiar territory, local voices.--Laura Kasischke, author of The Life before Her Eyes

American Salvage is not a book for the cowardly. These daring stories, these desperate characters, would just as soon steal your wallet, break your heart or punch you in the gut than openly admit that redemption is possible during these dark times. But it is just this improbable hope that makes her work brilliant. This is Bonnie Jo Campbell at her bravest and best. --Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

Beware ye who enter here, and yet you should and must because the work is so fine and truthful and deeply human, And you will surely know yourself and your world better for having come."

American Salvage is not a book for the cowardly. These daring stories, these desperate characters, would just as soon steal your wallet, break your heart or punch you in the gut than openly admit that redemption is possible during these dark times. But it is just this improbable hope that makes her work brilliant. This is Bonnie Jo Campbell at her bravest and best. --Rachael Perry, author of How to Fly

Campbell's an American voice--two parts healthy fear, one part awe, one part irony, one part realism.

In these stories about cold, lonely, meth-drenched, working-class Michigan life, there's a certain beauty reaching something like the sublimity of a D. H. Lawrence story.

About the Author:

Bonnie Jo Campbell is the author of a collection of stories, Women & Other Animals, and a novel, Q Road. She is the winner of a Pushcart and the AWP Award for Short Fiction. Her work has appeared in Southern Review, Kenyon Review, and Ontario Review.

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