American Rust--Philipp Meyer

In lieu of a traditional review of Philipp Meyer's American Rust, and with thanks to Suey of the Weekly Geeks team for the suggestion, today I'll be "interviewing" one of the book's protagonists.

Set in a part of Pennsylvania that's devastated by the demise of local steel mills, American Rust follows multiple protagonists through a murder and its aftermath. With so many points of view, it was hard to choose who to interview--I was drawn to each of them, thanks to Meyer's spot-on characterization and stream-of-consciousness writing style. But I had a particular soft spot for a troubled young man named Billy Poe.

Ali: Billy, let's stick to talking about the beginning of the book, because I don't want to run the risk of giving anything away to people who haven't read it yet. Meyer kept me guessing until the very last pages.

Billy: Yeah me too. Christ I never knew if Chief Harris had it in for me or what, and then Isaac, half the time I didn't know where he was. Didn't know where I was myself half the time.

Ali: You were certainly unpredictable! In fact, one of the things I liked most was reading your thought process as you grappled with some tough decisions and situations. You changed the plan, sometimes, from one sentence to the next.

Speaking of decisions, let's talk about Isaac. Your loyalty to him molded everything you did in the book, didn't it?

Billy: Loyalty, you could call it loyalty I guess. Isaac's a good man, better man than me. Not as strong maybe but tougher in a way. Smarter. Should have been gone from this town ages ago. Me too but that's different, that was me freezing up, everyone telling me to go to Colgate not giving me time to think it through. Isaac stuck around to take care of his old man--you know his old man was crippled, right?

Ali: Yeah, I read the book.

Billy: Oh, right, forgot that's all in the book. Don't read much myself. Leave that to you smart folks. Writers, teachers, book bloggers, reading all the time. Reading through day and night, through the cold of winter and the heat of summer when the light reflects on the creek, the sun shining through the leaves and their nose is in a book. Think I'll take a walk, come to think of it. Get out in nature, get some exercise, clear my head. No, stay here and do this interview thing, that's good for you too. Make you think about things different maybe. There'll be time for a walk later.

Ali: Glad we got that settled. So, I'm thinking that your loyalty to Isaac, and his sister Lee's lack of loyalty to you, are connected. Do you think so?

Billy: Me and Lee were never serious. Just fun and games. She didn't owe me a thing. Could have told me when she got married, though. Could have at least told me that. Not that it'd make a difference but it would have been better to hear it from her.

Ali: Yeah, sorry about that, but I guess she was trying to move on--which is another big theme in the book, right? Every character is trying to escape in one way or another--sometimes with disastrous consequences. Do you think Philipp Meyer was trying to show how Americans have gotten locked into a self-destructive way of life?

Billy: I think we all just kept screwing up.

Ali: I guess that's one way of looking at it.

Billy: Maybe you should have interviewed Isaac, he's the smart one.

Ali: No, Billy, you did just fine. Would you like to choose a song to go with this book?

Billy: Anything but Faith Hill I hate that new country shit. How about some Springsteen? My Hometown.

Ali: Perfect. My Hometown it is.


American Rust is also reviewed by Wordlily.

Sunday Salon: back in the swing of things

In the interest of getting back into a posting schedule, it's a Sunday Salon post. I don't have much to say, though, so this'll be interesting. Or, not, as the case may be.

Right now I'm reading American Rust, by Philipp Meyer. Yes, still. With houseguests last week, I did much more knitting (and learned to crochet!) and talking, than reading or writing. I'm hoping to finish this one in time to interview one of the characters for this week's Weekly Geeks assignment and to celebrate the book's release on Tuesday. The characters have such distinctive voices, and it's been fun to think about potential interview questions as I read along.


I'm also reading Rich Like Them, by Ryan d'Agostino. The author wanted to find out the secrets of America's upper class, so he went through ritzy neighborhoods knocking on doors until he found people who would talk to him about the secrets of their successes. I love books like this. Would I ever have the guts to knock on people's doors like that? No way. But, this guy did, so I get to read about it. It'd be better with pictures, but d'Agostino does a good job of describing the homes in all their glory.

If this book intrigues you, here's a heads up: I'll be holding a drawing for a free copy, so check back next week for details on that!

As for David Copperfield...There it sits, sadly neglected, under a pile of mismatched socks, surrounded by a drumming DVD and mandolin chords book, a camera bag, a green water snake won at the nickel arcade last week, and folded kitchen towels. I will fold the socks, yes, and I will put away the towels and yes I will read David Copperfield this week. I will.

Traveling Thursday

I didn't have a chance to post a Sunday Salon post this week, and I've been on the road ever since, which leaves me with not enough concentration to post an actual book review, so I've decided to post a sort of salon-ish post here in my motel room.

Our dear David Copperfield wasn't invited to come along to southern Oregon because, frankly, he is too fat. I wanted paperbacks that could be tucked easily into a backpack along with my writing folder and my knitting.

So, here's what I brought along:


At our rented beach cottage, I read Kevin Fitzpatrick's A Journey Into Dorothy Parker's New York. This is one of several of the ArtPlace series by Roaring Forties Press I'll be reviewing in the months to come, and I can't wait to get my thoughts together and tell you all about it--both good and bad. I learned so much from this book! Which wasn't hard to accomplish, since I knew very little about Dorothy Parker to begin with--but I also learned about a lot of other people and places I hadn't expected.

Once I'd finished Dorothy Parker, I moved on to Something Like Beautiful, by Asha Bandele. The first few chapters were kind of frustrating for me, because Asha tends to repeat herself. A lot. She repeats herself quite a bit, in fact, (Get it? Like that.) writing in circles around ideas or events to the point where an entire paragraph or two seem to be devoted to a single thought. On page 72 I put it down to go to bed, and at our hotel between the coast and southern Oregon the next night when I went to pick it back up . . . I didn't.

Instead, I picked up Philipp Meyer's debut novel, American Rust. I'm on page 40 right now, and I'm definitely into it. It's not a quick read--a little Faulkner-esque, in its third person stream-of-consciousness style. Meyer switches points of view in each chapter and I'm loving the way the third-person narrative voice changes with each new point-of-view character. Lots of early action, too, for those who like a good dose of plot with their cool narrative effects.

And here's what the whole family is reading together on our trip:

Both of these have been great family reads, in that they're entertaining to all of us. On the curvy roads we're listening to an mp3 of Pictures of Hollis Woods, that I downloaded from the library--my first time doing this successfully. The story of a girl who has bounced from foster home to foster home. We're about a third of the way through it. When we're not in the car, and during the straight parts of the drive, I'm reading the first Ranger's Apprentice book aloud. It's great! I hope they'll want to read the rest of the series with me--even though it's impossible to do the voices the same way Ben heard them in his head when he was reading Book 1 to himself!

The books, the weather, the people who've attended the presentations I'm here to give, and the people I get to hang out with every day (who've been keeping the bickering in the car to a bare minimum) have all conspired to make for some lovely time away from home. And now, my blogging hour is done--time to get back to my book and help the kiddos settle down for the night.