carrie's review
Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time by Michael Perry
i wanted to love this book. i tried. but i just couldn't. this is both a memoir and immersion journalism, exploring a tiny town in wisconsin through the eyes of a local boy who left for the city and then returns many years later and joins the volunteer fire department.
at times, the book can't tell whether it wants to be funny or ironic or serious. at other times, the author's voice and the narrator's voice compete with the tension on the page. but the biggest problem is that the author tries too hard to infuse his subject with meaning, instead of showing us the lifeblood of a small town that could be any small town. it's too bad, because the characters and the story could have been strong enough to stand on their own, without the author interfering.
at times, the book can't tell whether it wants to be funny or ironic or serious. at other times, the author's voice and the narrator's voice compete with the tension on the page. but the biggest problem is that the author tries too hard to infuse his subject with meaning, instead of showing us the lifeblood of a small town that could be any small town. it's too bad, because the characters and the story could have been strong enough to stand on their own, without the author interfering.
