Now You See It . . .: Stories from Cokesville, PA

by Bathsheba Monk

It's pretty much a straight shot from the upstate New York towns of Richard Russo's books to Bathsheba Monk’s Cokesville, PA. This is coal and steel country. The sort of place where an inch of soot on the windowsill means a regular paycheck—and two inches means a fat one. And what's the best make-out spot in town? Next to the burning slag heap.

In seventeen beguiling, linked stories, spanning fourty-five years, Monk brings a corner of America alive as never before. Her world bursts with indelible Mrs. Szilborski, who bakes great cake, but sprays her neighbors’ dogs with mace; and Mrs. Wojic, who believes her husband was reincarnated—as one of those dogs. Then there is the younger Annie Kusiak , who wants to write, and Theresa Gojuk, who dreams of stardom. Cokesville is their Yoknapatawpha; they ache to escape it and the ghosts of their ancestors and the regret of their parents. What ghosts—and what regrets! When Theresa’s father Bruno falls into a vat of molten steel, the mill gives the family an ingot roughly his weight to bury.

As deliciously wry as Allegra Goodman in The Family Markowitz , and with the matter-of-fact humanity of Grace Paley, Bathsheba Monk leads us into a world that is at once totally surprising and recognizable. These stories glow like molten steel.

Genres: Short Stories, Fiction

228 pages, Hardcover

First published August 18, 2003

About the author

Bathsheba Monk is the author of seven novels, plays (Lois's Wedding) and short memoir (Clarence H. Carter, Favorite Son). She writes YA under the pen name Maddy Wells. She loves to talk writing with fellow readers and writers.
Now You See It...Stories from Cokesville, PA
Nude Walker
Dead Wrong
Dead Silence
Dead Karma
Have Mercy by Maddy Wells
Have Love by Maddy Wells
Lois's Wedding (play)
Clarence H. Carter: Favorite Son (short memoir)

Reviews

[Sarah]

Great short story collection with a cohesiveness and through plot that too often are missing in these types of works. Her rendering of a dying industrial/mining town was believable, as were her numerous characters.

[Ayn Carey · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a gem of a book and where has Bathsheba Monk been all my life?
This wonderful novel comprised of interlinked short stories about the people of a dying mill town in the Rust Belt area of Pennsylvania is, by turns, funny, sad and tender. By focusing each story on one of Cokesville's (mostly Polish) denizens during a random year in the mid to late 20th Century, Monk creates a palpable sense of place.
There is a story arc too! Just like life in a small town, all the families reference other characters as we follow them through the years. The two women protagonists are known directly and also indirectly as they go from lead players in their own stories to bit players in somebody else's story.
In short, I highly recommend this book, and I fully intend to track down whatever else Ms. Monk has written.

[Pamela · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really this was a 2.5. For me, all the stories had the same tone, which made the book feel very flat for me. There was no tension. There wasn’t much of an arc. I expected more from interconnected stores.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars.

[Pat · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interconnected short stories. Some stories were more interesting than others.
The end story seemed like a disconnect from the rest of the book.

[Jezebel Friar · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is the absolute worst book I’ve ever read.

[Annette]

Abandoned.

[Maria · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book may appeal mostly to a niche audience: those who grew up in Western Pennsylvania/Eastern Ohio/the West Virginia Panhandle areas. Or, I suppose, anyone from working-class family in a small dying industrial town in the east. It's a series of stories chronicling the lives of characters from a coal town (the fictional Cokesville) in Pennsylvania. It's rich with the voices and values that prevail amongst the descendents of turn-of-the-century European immigrants who populate these areas in large numbers (Croatian, Serbian, Italian, Irish, Czech, German, Polish, Greek). It captures perfectly the sense of loss, dislocation, and guilt one feels when one grows up there, becomes college-educated, and leaves for sunnier climes, metaphorically speaking.

It is full of the quirky stories and superstitions that seem to permeate the lives of the people in steel/coal/mining towns. My favorite: the death of a family patriarch when he falls into a vat of molten gold ingot, and the company's compensation to the family based on the weight of the ingot. In a darkly comic turn, the family argues with the company about the man's weight pre-death, feeling they were cheated their due. Monk (a native of Bethlehem, PA) tells this and other stories well, with an ear for the local dialect, the characteristically understated emotion, the unique speech cadences, and the sometimes-charming, sometimes-nauseating provintial outlook of the town's inhabitants.

I am originally from Beaver Falls, PA-- a dying (perhaps already dead) steel town-- and the grandchild of Italian immigrants, so this book evoked in me something of a sense of nostalgia for a home that is unlike anywhere else I've ever been. The main character's struggle to find a place and identity for herself--after loosening herself from the clutch of the very deep roots these towns seem to engender in people--resonated with me pretty deeply. This, perhaps, interferes with my ability to write a more objective review, but the stories and writing style--independent of the content-- were well-executed and engaging.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm torn between four and five stars for this book. I loved the whole thing up until the very end. I thought that a lot of it felt like Annie Proulx lite, which a lot of times is actually better than Annie Proulx proper. I loved the weaving stories of small town Pennsylvania with the old Pole families. And then came the Epilogue. I understand that she was making parallels between Russia and Cokesville and all that, but it felt completely disconnected with the rest of the book. I wish she would have just ended it with the chapter before.

[Margaret · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fun reading event of interwoven tales of people from a small PA coal town in a structure similar to Maeve Binchy stories like the Lilac Bus and the Copper Beech.

The author is willing to share deep emotions and is able to do so without being pitiable or worse untalented. She is truthfully very talented and that's what makes this book stand out.

[Jennifer M. · Rating 4 out of 5]

to be posted on Femenist Review.org...

[Aubrey · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this on my honeymoon and was almost excited when my brand-new husband was feeling sick and hung out in the room one day because I got to drink in the pool and read this book alone for hours.

[A]

Excellent first work. Short stories that read independently yet are connected by characters and themes.

[Judy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Loved the nostalgia at first, then it takes a turn to bitterness, regret, sadness. That is life, though, isn't it?

[Sharon McCarthy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent. Lehigh Valley author creates unforgettable characters and its setting of a former steel making town made it very compelling! Loved this book!

[Barbara · Rating 3 out of 5]

would give 3 1/2 stars. I really liked it. Had trouble with connecting the last chapter. Really liked the author's humor throughout the book!

[Babs M · Rating 3 out of 5]

A good light beach read type book.

[Maureen Sautter]

This was a novel that was reviewed by the New York Times. As a Pennsylvania dweller, I share a similar history with the author and want to know more about what really has made my vicinity tick.