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Welcome to Utopia: Notes from a Small Town
by
Karen Valby
Utopia, Texas: It’s either the best place on earth, or it’s no place at all.
In the twenty-first century, it’s difficult to imagine any element of American life that remains untouched by popular culture, let alone an entire community existing outside the empire of pop. But Karen Valby discovered the tiny town of Utopia tucked away in the Texas Hill Country. There are no mov...more
In the twenty-first century, it’s difficult to imagine any element of American life that remains untouched by popular culture, let alone an entire community existing outside the empire of pop. But Karen Valby discovered the tiny town of Utopia tucked away in the Texas Hill Country. There are no mov...more
Hardcover, 238 pages
Published
June 1st 2010
by Spiegel & Grau
(first published 2010)
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Not too good, not too bad. At the beginning, Valby bemoans her New York friends & their provincial small-mindedness, as they all assume that she's going to meet nothing but pregnant teenagers, racists, and meth addicts in the small town of Utopia. Although there is not a whole lot of meth abuse to be found, there is at least one pregnant teen & a fair amount of racism. Silly racism, too, like old men talking about the smell that African Americans have even though they've not met any in t...more
Utopia, Texas seems like a town forgotten by time. It lacks many modern amenities, and that doesn’t seem to much bother its older inhabitants. Popular culture has only recently begun to seep in through the cracks of this town’s carefully maintained facade, but it’s definitely catching on amongst the younger generations.
Valby’s informal ethnography of Utopia documents how these changes are affecting various members of the community. She follows an old-timer with a strong influence on local politi...more
Valby’s informal ethnography of Utopia documents how these changes are affecting various members of the community. She follows an old-timer with a strong influence on local politi...more
The immediate draw of Karen Valby's book is the title. As it happens, Utopia is the name of the small Texas town that features as the setting of its residents' narratives as told by Valby. A journalist seeking a story about an 'untouched' place, she settles in the town and, after some apparent neutrality and even resentment from many residents skeptical of her New York City sensibilities, she tells her tales. What Valby uncovers is a town that is neither untouched nor particularly different from...more
It would be easy to reduce this book to a story about one small town in Texas when it's really a statement on the lifestyles and thinking that exist in much of America. As I was reading I kept thinking every person who has never ventured farther West than Pennsylvania or East than Neveda really should read this book for a clearer understanding about how the rest of this country functions. However, after reading the reviews I realize that far too many of them would miss the point entirely. No, th...more
Years ago, author Karen Valby, senior writer for Entertainment Weekly, travels to Utopia, Texas -- a ranchers' town with no stoplights, no fast-food chains, no DVD rental stores -- on assignment for her magazine. She is searching for the one place in the country that has yet to be swallowed by globalization and cable TV.
Fascinated with this small community and the multifaceted lives of the people she encounters (including the waitress with four sons in the army, the only African American teenage...more
Fascinated with this small community and the multifaceted lives of the people she encounters (including the waitress with four sons in the army, the only African American teenage...more
A senior writer at Entertainment Weekly, who lives in Manhattan, takes an assignment to find an American town untouched by popular culture. Karen Vably discovered the tiny town of Utopia, TX and lives with the people of the town for two years in effort to write this honest and well portrayed book. Utopia is a place with a half-milelong Main Street featuring "zero stoplights, one constable, 540 residents and seven churches.
She follows the lives of four Utopians; Ralph, the retired owner of the ge...more
She follows the lives of four Utopians; Ralph, the retired owner of the ge...more
The author lives in a really small Texas town and follows a few citizens, making observations about how the people act and interact. She finds that they really support each other, and really rail against outsiders and change. Her view of the teenagers seems right on it too - can't wait to leave, but then realize that they have something unique and find it a little comforting once they finish high school.
Mendota is bigger than Utopia, so not as close knit, but I see some parallels. Certain names...more
Mendota is bigger than Utopia, so not as close knit, but I see some parallels. Certain names...more
I finally finished reading this. Up front, I will say I am giving it two stars not because it is bad, but because it is, well, "just ok," which is what two stars means here on GoodReads. The book did have some interesting moments. It showed some good human interest stories. However, after a while, the book does get a bit tedious and boring much like a small town can get boring after a while. It is amazing that the author got as much access as she did and that the people of Utopia were are open w...more
I couldn't figure out the message of this book. How some people escape small towns while others get stuck? How prejudiced people are in small towns? Overall, it just seemed gossipy, with no beginning, middle or end. I felt sorry for the people profiled, simply because the author's descriptions of them felt like an invasion of privacy. If I were still living in the small town I grew up in and had my life exposed to the extent these people did, it would make life very difficult. I can see why many...more
I just wish this had been in Indiana, or some place a little more Midwest! Then it would have been my dream come true.
Valby is an Entertainment Weekly writer who begins to visit Utopia, Texas over a two-year period, trying to get the feel for a small town which is quintessentially American, despite its only-recent exposure to the pop culture of satellite tv and video games. We learn of the coffee-drinking older men who gather by the general store each day—staunchly conservative and more than sli...more
Valby is an Entertainment Weekly writer who begins to visit Utopia, Texas over a two-year period, trying to get the feel for a small town which is quintessentially American, despite its only-recent exposure to the pop culture of satellite tv and video games. We learn of the coffee-drinking older men who gather by the general store each day—staunchly conservative and more than sli...more
As a one-time visitor to Utopia (albeit briefly) during my Texas vacation, and as a confirmed Entertainment Weekly addict, I considered Valby's study to be something of a personal perfect storm. Here, I supposed, will surely be an account that delves into the life of small towns with all the curiosity I feel passing through them, exploring and exposing their inner workings with love and logic. Sadly, Valby's focus on four townspeople fails to generate a comprehensive picture of the whole, and f...more
This is one of those "little remarkable" books that sometimes fall into your hands. I'm glad that I found this book, even though at first I really didn't want to read it.
It's about a woman journalist,Karen Valby, who comes from the big city in search of writing about small town life. She arrives in Utopia Texas, and begins her "journey" into the world of 4:30 a.m. coffee, farmers,cowboys and other ruffians she meets in this small Texas Hill country town.
I liked this book right from the start,...more
It's about a woman journalist,Karen Valby, who comes from the big city in search of writing about small town life. She arrives in Utopia Texas, and begins her "journey" into the world of 4:30 a.m. coffee, farmers,cowboys and other ruffians she meets in this small Texas Hill country town.
I liked this book right from the start,...more
The subtitle of this book is Notes From a Small Town. The town is in Texas and the author is a writer for Entertainment Weekly.
The book touches briefly on the misconceptions small town America has about big cities like NYC, a topic I feel could have been explored more and vice versa.
This book is easy to read but sadly, not much happens in a small Texas town. The citizens lead pretty uneventful lives; little travel, little culture, little job opportunity, and even little tolerance or support for...more
The book touches briefly on the misconceptions small town America has about big cities like NYC, a topic I feel could have been explored more and vice versa.
This book is easy to read but sadly, not much happens in a small Texas town. The citizens lead pretty uneventful lives; little travel, little culture, little job opportunity, and even little tolerance or support for...more
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I heard this author speak at my library.She told us this was really a love letter to the people of Utopia Some of the townspeople did not see it that way and were upset that she did not portray the town in a better light. Not sure how I would feel if someone were writing about me and my home town. However I felt the the author was honest and sincere in her writing. Totally enjoyed the book and the townspeople.. All of us have flaws and all towns/cities have flaws. That is what makes us human and...more
Karen Valby deserves the designation of "professional writer". In Welcome to Utopia, she deftly allows the real-life characters emerge with their own stories. Immersing herself in the less-than-life-changing culture of Utopia, TX, we gradually become witness to the three dimensions of the people who inhabit it -- the old men coffee drinkers, the restless high school students, the best friends who post-graduation are pulled apart by varied dreams and harsh realities. Valby does not pull sentiment...more
Journalist Valby was sent to find a "very" small town to study. She chose Utopia, TX, pop. 1,000. She went beyond interviews. She actually lived there, really becoming a part of the community. If you have lived in a small town or spent much time with others who have, you will see the exceptionally accurate picture she presents. It's almost like getting a wild animal to let you into it's life. She persists and becomes a member of the coffee group (all men)at the hardware store. We learn about the...more
Book club selection and not something I would normally pick to read. But glad I did. A pleasant read about different characters in a small town in Texas. Written by a journalist who spent quite a bit of time in the town getting to know the people. Not mindblowing or terribly surprising revelations, but nice reminder about a different pace of life, and people being people wherever they live. I was especially touched by how the town reacted to casualies of the war in Iraq. Just not something you i...more
Eye-opening masterpiece of narrative nonfiction that reminds readers that people view the world, goals, and accomplishments with a different lens based on their environment and setting. In this novel, the setting, is a small town in Texas called Utopia. This town may not see eye to eye on issues involving presidents of the United States or if the city should be allowed to build sidewalks; but when tragedies hit or a family is suffering from financial problems, a person cannot witness a more perf...more
This was an interesting piece of narrative non-fiction. An Entertainment Weekly journalist gets an assignment to write about life in small-town America and this book is the result. Valby visits the town of Utopia, Texas, and gets to know the residents and the families that make up this small ranching town. She profiles a larger family, a mixed-race family, and a smaller family, as well as a clutch of older men who gather for a daily round of coffee and gossip in a series of 12 interconnected cha...more
[Welcome to Utopia: Notes from a Small Town] is Karen Valby's return to the countryside of the US, to the small town of Utopia, TX, pop. 333 (or around).
Motivated by an article she wrote for a posh magazine, Karen returns to investigate the essence of Utopian lifestyle. She focuses on the numerous members of four families in this town, among them the former owner of the general store, the American mom, the smart kid departed to an Ivy League college. Utopia is depicted as a place only marginall...more
Motivated by an article she wrote for a posh magazine, Karen returns to investigate the essence of Utopian lifestyle. She focuses on the numerous members of four families in this town, among them the former owner of the general store, the American mom, the smart kid departed to an Ivy League college. Utopia is depicted as a place only marginall...more
reads like so many character sketches for a novel. fails, in my opinion, to make any points about pop culture's influence on small town life or lack there of. It's both a specific portrait of this one town, but also familiar enough to be a portrait of any small town anywhere. The author sets out to say this place is different, but it isn't. And it's not all that interesting either. A series of character sketches might have been better and a much shorter book!
Couldn't put this down while I was reading it! The author really makes you feel absorbed in this town & its changes. Her themes are a bit familiar, but honest. You can tell she really cares about her subjects, and she makes your heart ache for them too. I had to google interviews with her after I finished to see if she said anything about how things went for Colter, because he reminded me so much of people I know ...
Small towns have always seemed a bit magical to me, so I was excited to read this. I enjoyed parts of it and found the content really interesting at times. It was more a study of people than anything else. The writing style was kind of awkward, a weird non-fiction/narrative genre mix that just felt a bit abrupt and choppy. It was also pretty slow, which paired well with the small town, nostalgic feel, but got boring at times. I wanted to like this a lot more than I actually did.
A small town, of ordinary people, examined by a woman who makes her living as a writer for Entertainment Weekly. For some reason I thought this was a good idea.
First of all, there is a line, and not a fine line, between interesting and common. What might have been an interesting book turned out instead to be a set of common stories. Are these people your every day ordinary Americans? Yup. Does everyone in this little town have a story all their own? Yup. Is each one interesting and profound? Nop...more
First of all, there is a line, and not a fine line, between interesting and common. What might have been an interesting book turned out instead to be a set of common stories. Are these people your every day ordinary Americans? Yup. Does everyone in this little town have a story all their own? Yup. Is each one interesting and profound? Nop...more
I grew up in a small town (and hated it) so I had a hard time liking a single person in this book. The book's aimlessness and simplicity mirrored the subjects with which the author interacted. Which isn't her fault necessarily but my ambivalence towards all these people's lives made this a slow read for me. I thought she wrote well and told a good story, though. Unfortunately there's only so much one can do with notes from a small town.
Very interesting and purposely dated book. A writer from Entertainment Weekly wrote a story about the least pop cultured town in America and turned it into a whole book. I remember this article from years ago and the book was just as good, if not better because you dove more into the peoples lives and got to know them more. I love books on small towns. How the olds don't want change and the young all move away and how that's changed America over the last 200 years, especially over the last 50. I...more
This book was slow going at first, but I liked it more towards the end. It chronicals the life in small town America, mostly the town of Utopia. I didn't grow-up in a small town, but thought some of the author's comments were insightful whereas others were common knowledge. I blame this on the fact she was from Brooklyn and wonder how the book would be written from another perspective.
I can identify with the small-town world of Utopia having grown up in a little bit larger community in the Hill Country of Texas. The old guys meeting at the back of the General Store for coffee. My uncles did that, only it was at a gas station. Who knew there was a book in that?
The lives of the community members are complicated, more so than you would think and the general problems (What to do with my life?), universal. A finely written and insightful book.
The lives of the community members are complicated, more so than you would think and the general problems (What to do with my life?), universal. A finely written and insightful book.
If you have ever lived or spent time in a small town, you will identify with this book. It follows the daily lives of the small town characters, from the old timers at the coffee shop to the high school kids waiting for their chance to run out of town.
I got a real good peak at some of the town folk of Utopia that are like family. In fact some of them were family. If you like books that give you the flavor of the setting explore this well written and very well researched view of our home town.
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