Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time (P.S.) - Softcover

Perry, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0061363502 ISBN 13: 9780061363504

Publisher: Harper Perennial, 2007

Synopsis

Mike Perry's extraordinary and thoughtful account of meeting the people of his small hometown by joining the fire and rescue team was a breakout hit that "swells with unadorned heroism" (USA Today)

Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now-after a decade away-he has returned.

Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy.

Tracing his calls on a map in the little firehouse, he sees "a dense, benevolent web, spun one frantic zigzag at a time" from which the story of a tiny town emerges.

About this title

Review:

"Swells with unadorned heroism. He's the real thing ."--USA Today

"This is a quietly devastating book--intimate and disarming and lovely."--Adrienne Miller, Esquire

From the Back Cover:

Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin, where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, Population: 485 is a comic and sometimes heartbreaking true tale leavened with quieter meditations on an overlooked America.

About this edition

• Publisher: Harper Perennial
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0061363502
• ISBN 13: 9780061363504
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 280