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Oct 22, 2011

karen rated it:

awwww poor boook. i am only feeling three stars here but i am giving it four because the other reviews are so unfair. (not the one that says there has been no good fiction published this century - that one is so much laughable curmudgeonly elitist bullshit i can't even acknowledge it) but it's not a bad book. as far as the "confusing narration" "who is speeeeaking??" hint: the chapter names are the names of the narrators. so - no great mystery there. the run-ons and lack of More...

16 comments like (46 people liked it)

Jul 13, 2010

Sara rated it:

ARC received through the First Reads giveaway program.

I found American Rust to be very satisfying. It reminded me of Faulkner's writing, except for the part where Faulkner drives me crazy! I was also reminded a bit of Empire Falls, as both take place in towns that have fallen on rough times.

There is definitely a plot, and it does move forward, but at a slower pace than expected for a story revolving around a murder. Meyer takes his time and explores the minds of the chara More...

0 comments like (7 people liked it)

Jan 05, 2012

Kim rated it:

I gave this book three stars for the literary value. I had trouble with it though, because the gratuitous sex bothered me. I guess, my prudishness can get in the way of books like this.

1 comment like (4 people liked it)

May 26, 2011

Shelley rated it:

I bought this book as a birthday gift for my husband and ended up reading it myself. This is the kind of book that, two years ago, I would have stayed up all night finishing in one sitting. Now I have a kid, so I had to settle for reading it over the span of a week. One of the minor sacrifices that comes with being a parent.

I had very high expectations for the book after reading only the epigraph, and, ultimately, I wasn't disappointed. My hat is off to Philipp Meyer for writing a More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Feb 22, 2009

Krista rated it:

The tag for this book talks about beauty, dreams, and inspiration, and it has been compared to Russell Banks' picture of the Great Depression and John Steinbeck's exploration of America. Unfortunately, those descriptors were more lofty and pure than the actual story, so I ended up entering the giveaway of a book for which I probably wasn't the intended audience. I'm sure my rating reflects this, so read the review and interpret it as you will.

My take on the book: The background was More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 18, 2009

Lisaruss rated it:

Why can't the crop of young American writers learn to write properly constructed literature? Fyodor Dostoevsky's take on the subject, for God's sake. When the sum total of someone's experiential modus operandi has involved cell phones, laptops, iPods, electronic devices, 24/7 cable TV, football half-time shows, virtual carnal knowledge, scanners, bar codes, reality TV, et al., to ad infinitum, then what can one really expect from such a cultural meltdown?

My suggestion to the po More...

4 comments like (4 people liked it)

Feb 21, 2009

David rated it:

This book is wonderfully visceral. The description is very meaty and really makes the setting come alive. What I like most is how Meyer juxtaposes the characters off of each other. The chapters present focuses from alternating characters' points of view, but Meyer doesn't alternate just to present a different take on the events of the novel. Rather, the characters develop in relation to each other. I felt not only the conflicts in the character in dealing with the events that occur, but the More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Dec 18, 2011

Alexandra rated it:

Immer wenn ich in den Kritiken oder am Cover vom grossen amerikanischen Roman lese, bin ich sofort auf der Hut, denn meistens bedeutet dies ewig episch breites Herumgefasel sprachlich gut präsentiert und eine mittelmässige total langweilige amerikanische Mittelschicht mit aufgebauschten Durchschnittsproblemen, über die es sich eigentlich nicht wirklich lohnt, ein Buch zu schreiben.

Dieser Roman ist da aber total anders und hat mich sehr positiv überrascht. Meyer besschreibt in ROST die More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2009

Kirsta rated it:

For a book based on a great reality of our times, I found the characters to be completely unrealistic. The writing, from multiple characters points of view is muddled. How is it that so many people, who apparently don't communicate with one another at all, can have such identical, deeply profound thoughts? They are all thinking the same things about their home and times, yet when they communicate with one another, they aren't talking about anything, they are just cussing and then sleeping tog More...

2 comments like (5 people liked it)

Feb 17, 2009

Autumn rated it:

I think that Philipp Meyer has potential as an author but he has chosen to take a bit too many risks within this novel. Now I will say that the copy I was given was an uncorrected version. I did not find any spelling errors but there were many odd grammar uses and too many changes in the narrations point of view. when you would go within the thoughts of the characters, and you would get an odd listing of words which clearly meant something to the author but held no context to a reader not listen More...

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Heather rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

1 comment like (2 people liked it)

Mar 28, 2009

Mara rated it:

We get inside the head of a lot of characters in this book. However, despite spending a lot of time inside their head, we rarely get any insight into their decision-making processes, which is unfortunate, since many of the characters make fairly dramatic decisions in the course of the narrative. Also, most of the characters seem somewhat mentally unstable, which is fine, if they're supposed to be, but I don't think they were. So overall it's just a bunch of unpleasant people running around makin More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Wendi rated it:

This novel is about a dying Pennsylvanian small town, with two young men who become involved in the murder at the forefront. It was an interesting read, although the short chapters (each with a different characters' point of view) was sometimes disconcerting. To be honest, I enjoyed the atmosphere of this book (the trailers, dive bars and trains) more than the plot itself, which at the end seemed rushed and a bit convoluted. I also found myself disbelieving some of the characters' motivations, e More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Feb 28, 2009

Sheila rated it:

I received this book as a Goodreads First Read, and I must admit that while this isn't a book I would have normally picked up, it hooked my attention in the first chapter. Definately not a slow starting novel. The letter from the publisher that came with the book compares the author to Cormac McCarthy and to John Steinbeck, but the author that came to mind for me as I was reading this book was Ernest Hemingway. American Rust is a story about fate and choices, friendship and family, and looking a More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 01, 2011

Abby rated it:

American Rust[return]Philipp Meyer[return][return]The LTER edition of “American Rust” arrived as I was finishing Richard Russo’s “Bridge of Sighs.” I was not inclined to read two books back-to-back with what I thought would be similar settings – fading mid-Atlantic industrial towns – but, feeling an obligation to the LTER program to read the book promptly and post a review, I picked it up immediately. As it turns out, the two books, though equally satisfying, could not be more different.[retur More...

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Feb 21, 2011

Florinda rated it:

There are places in this country that have been permanently changed by the recession - not the current one, or the tech-bubble one, but the one from about thirty years ago. That was when the heavy manufacturing that had been the source of American economic strength for so long began to crumble. Jobs left, and didn't come back; and to find jobs and make new lives, many people found that they had to leave too. But others stayed - sometimes by their own choice, sometimes because they felt they had More...

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Mar 17, 2009

Lynn rated it:

Meyer's vivid descriptions of the former Pennsylvania steel towns were so accurate I had to check to see if he had actually grown up in western Pennsylvania. HIs comment that the earth is reclaiming some of the land is true. It was so overcast and grimy driving into Pittsburgh in the 1960's. Now you can see the sun. Former mills are turned into office lofts, entertainment centers, or are crumbling and the trees and grasses are covering them.

This novel is mostly about friendship. Isa More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 29, 2011

dubh rated it:

Philipp Meyer ist ein junger US-amerikanischer Autor, geboren 1974 in Baltimore/Maryland, und lebt heute in Texas. Nach diversen, sehr unterschiedlichen Jobs und einigen kleineren Veröffentlichungen seiner Prosa, ist "American Rust" sein Romandebüt.

Anfangs dachte ich, dass ich ein Buch aus einer anderen Zeit lese, ich dachte an raues Arbeiterklima, an Hobos und Zeiten, in denen weder Wanderarbeiter groß Rechte besaßen noch sonst jedwede Gewerkschaftsarbeit erlaubt war... De More...

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Sep 28, 2011

Shannon rated it:

A lot of reviewers commented on the grammar/sentence structure of the novel, and I agree, to a point. American Rust is part stream-of-consciousness, part third person narration. There are points at which this feels messy. There are some sentences I read two or three times and still didn't understand. However, I LOVED the way the novel incorporates so many characters from this depressed Rust Belt community. You get many points of view on the closing of the steelmills, and the impact on these smal More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 17, 2011

Evan rated it:

There are a pile of really boneheaded reviews on here about this book. I'm still giving it three stars, but it doesn't deserve to be dragged through the mud just because some people don't understand innovative punctuation usage.

Look, whether you agree with the moral overtones of the book or not, the story is compellingly told and utterly sincere. There is an awful lot of carping on these reviews about the book's supposed atheist overtones, which I admit are pretty strong, but I take th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 10, 2011

Lisa rated it:

American Rust is a summer 2011 selection of the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle: http://www.ciweb.org/education-clsc/

When things fall apart, there are strata in which humans become predatory, possibly in the extremes -- the wealthiest on Wall Street went after the steel market while the poorest in the devastated mill towns went after each other. Philipp Meyer was a broker who watched the stocks climb as each mill was closed and experienced the adrenaline rushes but found it More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 08, 2011

SwensonBooks rated it:

Phillip Meyer's 2010 novel is a haunting reflection of contemporary America. The senselessness of violence is a theme that permeates the plot. Just as I finished it, Loughner went ballistic in Arizona and suddenly this work of fiction offers a mirror into our nation's mental health. When life means nothing, death means nothing more.

Set in a small factory town in Pennsylvania, the characters come to life and I recognize my neighbors and friends and community in the depressing state of More...

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Jun 13, 2011

Richard rated it:

I didn't expect the "terrible act of violence" mentioned on the back of the book to occur so early in the story, and found myself immediately intrigued, turning pages to learn the fates of the affected characters. Meyer alternates writing from the perspective of six of these characters, in third person but more like first person at times, and all six are well developed and believable. I enjoyed reading Isaac's perspective best of all, his scattered thoughts, though some resonated wit More...

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Feb 18, 2011

Roberta rated it:

Siamo a Buell, cittadina della Pennsylvania, ex centro industriale (nel campo dell'acciaio), ormai persa sotto un pesante velo di ruggine e decadenza in seguito alla crisi economica e al dislocamento del lavoro.

I protagonisti (il libro è organizzato in capitoli dedicati in modo alterno a quelli principali) si dividono in persone di mezza età che hanno vissuto l'epoca d'oro e poi - non avendo la possibilità o per inerzia - sono rimasti a vivere anche la depressione, o giovani all'alb More...

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Feb 01, 2011

Paul rated it:

Although "American Rust" is a good read, it will be of most interest to those who live in the Pittsbugh/Mon Valley region. The Pittsburgh/Mon Valley area was built up around the steel industry. Steel plants could be seen throughout the area, some plants ran for miles and miles along the rivers, and steel was being produced 24 hours a day. Jobs were plentiful and high paying. This all came to an end with the influx of inexpensive foreign steel. The vast majority of steel plants wer More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 11, 2010

Pamela rated it:

It was so interesting to read this book right(Oct. 2010) now as I’ve been traveling around the country, having recently been in parts of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Ohio where we have seen (albeit, from a distance) quite a few areas where the ruins and remains of major industrial factories are looming on the horizon. The dilapidated and rusted buildings are always in areas where you can see the decline of the economy; Main street businesses are shuttered, houses have sagging porches and desperat More...

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Jul 14, 2010

William rated it:

It's nice to find contemporary authors. This is Phillip Meyer's debut and it came highly critically acclaimed, though my friend that read it said it wasn't all that.

I fall somewhere in the middle. I think this book had a chance to be an American classic, but falls short in a few ways. Parts of the book felt strained for authenticity. It takes place in a backwards part of south-west PA and a few scenes are in a prison. Both settings are challenging to portray in a way that allo More...

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May 17, 2010

Linda rated it:

The setting of this dark and foreboding book is Buell, a once prosperous Pennsylvania steel town, now littered with abandoned buildings and souls.

Because of the high recommendations, I kept reading hoping to find redemption or certainly some slant of light shining through the ominous clouds of poverty, defeat and oppressiveness.

The pros: The book is well written
The cons: The book is too dark, stark and hopeless
The plot: Two friends who attempt to run away from the p More...

2 comments like

Dec 23, 2009

Felicity rated it:

And just when I was beginning to wonder if there was any good fiction out there anymore...this is a beautiful, almost lyrical, work. It is bleak, but there is a sliver of hope at the end. Essentially, Meyer examines what happens in a small PA town after the collapse of the steel industry...the slow disintegration and decay as hope leeks out and rust sets in. Meyer did his homework too, interviewing former steelworkers in preparation for writing the book. The book struck me as very Faulkneria More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jun 30, 2009

Sharyl rated it:

Isaac English and Billy Poe are now twenty years old and living in the same depressed Pennsylvania steel town where they'd grown up and attended high school, and this is sad. Sad, because Billy should have taken that football scholarship and headed out of there, sad, because Isaac had enough brains to get into any school, and an older sister at Yale who wanted to help him get out of town. So, why are they still in Buell? Billy suffers from inertia and low self-esteem, while Isaac is hesitant to More...

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