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Truck: A Love Story (P.S.) by Michael Perry
Book Summary InformationAuthor: Michael Perry Edition: Paperback Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published) Published: 2007-07-31 ISBN: 0060571187 Number of pages: 320 Publisher: Harper Perennial
Book Reviews of Truck: A Love Story (P.S.)Book Review: the natural philosopher's handbook Summary: 5 Stars
I could go on and on about this book, but let's let the man speak for himself. "The amateur study of philosophy," Perry writes, "is like taking a few laps with a NASCAR driver. You're not qualified to do it on your own, you have no business behind the wheel, but for a few laps or paragraphs, you're right in there with 'em, and when it's all over, you've learned something. Or," he adds, "as my local fire chief once said, you've simply exasperated the situation."
Perry hasn't exasperated his situation, in this book a year during which he rebuilds his 1952 International Harvester pickup, plants a garden, and falls in love, in between tangential forays into brother-in-lawhood, deer hunting, being a professional author, sexism, and all the other bits and pieces that make up a whole life in rural America. At times a little wordy (you wish his editor had leaned on him a little more toward the end) mostly it's just one of the best word pictures of life today, funny, sad, smart. It's not given to everyone to be perceptive and a good writer. Perry is, and it is a pleasure to be along for, literally, the ride of his life.
Some of my favorite Perryisms:
"The world of American culture and commerce functions like a combination of sponge and sandpaper, absorbing everything and smoothing it down so it slides easily into a designer shopping bag." (For years I've been railing against the Pepsi-ization of America. Comrade!)
[describing the village junkman's trailer] "Fully loaded, it has the appearance of a postapocalyptic Costco on wheels." (I expect Mel Gibson as Raggedyman to come walking down the street right behind.)
[A man who has spent way too much time worrying about his hair says this of his do when he graduated from nursing school] "...mousse spikes on top, a mullet in back, and a moustache up front. The bad hair trifecta." (Kinda sorta want to see a picture of that.)
"...a rictus of dither."
"...an epic snit."
I could spend all day thumbing through Truck: A Love Story (P.S.) and coming up with these nuggets, but there's one on practically every page so better you read the book yourself. You'll feel like you've made a friend when you're done. And you'll have laughed a lot, and maybe even learned something, too.
Summary of Truck: A Love Story (P.S.) The author of Population: 485 returns, delivering a truckload of humor, heart, and . . . gardening tips? Think Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, complete with stock cars, sexy vegetables, and a laugh track. "All I wanted to do was fix my old pickup truck," says Michael Perry. "That, and plant my garden. Then I met this woman. . . ." Truck: A Love Story recounts a year in which Perry struggles to grow his own food ("Seed catalogs are responsible for more unfulfilled fantasies than Enron and Penthouse combined"), live peaceably with his neighbors (one test-fires his black powder rifle in the alley; another's best Sunday shirt reads 100 PERCENT WHUP-ASS), and sort out his love life. But along the way, he sets his hair on fire, is attacked by wild turkeys, takes a date to the fire department chicken dinner, and proposes marriage to a woman in New Orleans. As with Population: 485, much of the spirit of Truck: A Love Story may be found in the characters Perry meets: a one-eyed land surveyor, a paraplegic biker who rigs a sidecar so that his quadriplegic pal can ride along, a bartender who refuses to sell light beer, an enchanting woman who never existed, and half the staff of National Public Radio. By turns hilarious and heartfelt, a tale that begins on a pile of sheep manure, detours to the Whitney Museum of American Art, and returns to the deer-hunting swamps of northern Wisconsin, Truck: A Love Story becomes a testament to the surprising and unintended consequences of love. 1006
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