Author

Publication

2002 - HarperCollins, New York, New York (State)

Language

English

Word Count

58,500 words, Guess

Page Count

234 pages

Identifiers

and 2 more
  • LibraryThing56939
  • Goodreads228364

Classifications

  • DDC977.5/44
  • LCCTH9118.P47 A3 2002

Alternate Titles

  • Population, four hundred eighty-five

Description

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.

Description

"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, building to a final chapter that is at once devastating and transcendent."--BOOK JACKET.

Subjects

Topics

TravelBiographyNonfictionRescue workRural healthFire fightersFire departments

Genres

  • Biography.

Other Editions

  • Population 485: meeting your neighbors one siren at a timeHarperCollins2002-01-01
Show 2 more editions

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