Salt of the Nation

by Matt Bloom

Salt of the Nation is the story of Harry McBride, a disillusioned gravel plant worker who impulsively slugs the Republican presidential nominee during a campaign photo-op and instantly becomes America's most famous fugitive and newest hero.



Harry's vicious punch is caught on camera and immediately goes viral as he flees the scene of his crime and heads for Mexico. While being pursued across the country by a zealous born again private investigator, Harry is taunted via the airwaves by Grover Budd, a Rush Limbaugh-like radio host who doggedly portrays Harry as a subversive agent of the "socialist" Democratic Party.



Despite Grover Budd's efforts, Harry soon becomes a role model to working-class men and a sex symbol to disaffected women longing to escape their unfulfilling lives. To a single mother he meets, Harry is a healer with the power to cure her chronically-ill son. College professors start teaching ad-hoc courses on Harry, a song about him goes to number one, and radio stations stage Harry McBride Punch-Out Contests to raise money for the troops. That's not to mention the Harry McBride Society, hastily contrived to cash in on the free-floating rage and frustration to which Harry has given a name and a face.



Set during the run-up to a pivotal presidential election, Salt of the Nation is more than a road story; it's a novel about a land riven by broken promises, thwarted dreams, and populism gone awry. It's the story of a contemporary America equally divided and galvanized by an ordinary man's rash act and desperate journey.

Genres: Fiction

202 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2019

About the author

Matt Bloom has worked many jobs over the years to support his writing habit, including but not limited to kitchen hand, freight elevator operator, migrant laborer, truck driver, bartender, and currently as an anti-money laundering investigator. Matt grew up on Long Island and has lived briefly in Australia, Mexico, upstate New York, and Ohio. He now lives in Manhattan with his wife, Shelley Simmons-Bloom, and their cat, Bunny. Matt’s first published work of fiction was a short story in the Westside Spirit, a free weekly newspaper that still exists. His latest novel is SALT OF THE NATION (2019, Adelaide Books). His three previous novels are BLUE PARADISE (1998), A DEATH IN THE HAMPTONS (2002), and THE LAST ROMANTIC (2005). His children’s books are HELLO, MY NAME IS BUNNY!! (2016) and HELLO, MY NAME IS BUNNY! LONDON (2018). Matt has also earned fiction fellowships at Sewanee Writers’ Conference (1998), Breadloaf Writers’ Conference (1999), and a residence at MacDowell Artists’ Colony (2003).

Reviews

[Rita Baker · Rating 5 out of 5]

SALT OF THE NATION. - MATT BLOOM



Fast paced, engaging, keeps you hooked from beginning to end.

Never thought this would be my kind of book. How wrong I was. It is so today, in both language and descriptions. And it kept me reading, anxious to read on, as chapter after chapter, I became excited and involved in the exceptional writing of author Matt Bloom’s gift for telling a story. It is a story of the moment in a world filled with corruption and deceit by those with the political power to destroy or build up who, or whatever is in their personal interest. The main character, Harry McBride, will have you feeling sorry for him, rutting for him, loving him. Wanting him to succeed against all odds, and believing that he just might. I will tell you one thing, your hate for politicians, after reading this novel, will justify those feelings.

[Keith Madsen · Rating 4 out of 5]

To show my age, as I read this book I kept thinking of EASY RIDER. Peter Fonda played the lead in the 1969 movie. The promotional clip said, "He went looking for America -- and couldn't find it anywhere." He should try looking now! Our present President has made war on the best things America had to offer. SALT OF THE NATION features a Trump-like presidential candidate and a right-wing radio personality who is reminiscent of far too many of the commentators on FOX news. The central character of Matt Bloom's book, Harry McBride, punches out the Presidential candidate, an act which endears him with much of the US population. And perhaps I should also say he does what so many of us wish we could get away with in real life! So, obviously I agree with the political perspective of this book. I graded it down a star because I felt it worked better as political commentary than as a story. I felt that most of the characters were too stereotypical, and we did not get to see their fullness as people. Nevertheless, it is an interesting read and a book that can challenge us to rethink what America should be all about.

[Richard Wise · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lest you think, the book is a satire on the present occupant of the White House, it is not though one of the characters, talk show host, Grover Budd, does resemble a certain right-wing radio personality recently awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Trump. Nope, this is a story about the soul of America.

McBride encounters that soul as he drives south towards the Mexican border. Harry’s fame increases by the day. He finds himself quickly becoming an American icon. Harry is a down and outer and most of the people he encounters are even more down and out than he, himself.

As Harry drives along, other actors, politicians, talk show hosts, college professors, an ex-FBI agent pedophile and a country singer try to figure out the source of his growing appeal and how they can cash in on it.

Amusing and at times hilarious, Salt of the Nation is a classic road book, a book in which the protagonist discovers truths about himself, truths about our country and also some wisdom that can benefit all of us.

[Csimplot Simplot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!!!

[Joyce Yarrow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Although I am not a connoisseur of satirical fiction, I do know that at some point in a book of this sort I expect to be caught laughing aloud. Something I did frequently while following the misadventures of gravel-worker Harry McBride, who takes to the road after knocking a US Senator off a loading dock. Harry was disgusted when Senator Landon - a Republican presidential candidate - spouted off about “hard work and self reliance.” But it was the fake smile planted on Landon’s face that pushed our hero over the edge. As he eloquently puts it, “Nothing worse than a smile from the guy trying to stick it to you.”

As Harry flees toward Mexico in a series of stolen cars, he pines for his ex-wife Grace, even as he romances waitresses and takes part in an eating contest that earns this book a “vegan beware” label. McBride is unaware of the ripples his actions have created throughout the country until he tunes in the rabid soundtrack of Grover Bud’s radio show. Obnoxious and bigoted, Bud brands Harry as a “socialist-o-path” and uses his show as a platform to attack the man he sees as a threat to the American way of life. Meanwhile, politicians on both sides of the aisle plot to use Harry for their own purposes, weaving a web of phony populism they think will appeal to America’s disgruntled workers. Sound familiar?

Amidst all this glorious confusion, the characters in Salt of the Nation gradually become more and more human, straining against the roles society seems to have chosen for them. At one point the political operative—a sinner and born again Christian sent to retrieve Harry so his bosses can manipulate him—wonders “how a nation so crammed with garbage and junk, with pointless emails and texts, with nasty tweets and posts and memes, with bad TV and even worse music, could still be God’s favorite.”

It is the personal stories—ranging from the ridiculous to the semi-sublime—that cut through the layers of sardonic humor and bind this tour de force of a book into a meaningful whole.

[Dennis Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salt of the Nation written by Matt Bloom, what can I say? Matt has created an American icon, Harry Mc Bride, a simple man the majority of Americans can and do identify with. Harry McBride made a big mistake when he hauled off and punched Senator Joe Landon, Republican presidential nominee, in the face for some unknown reason other than he kept Harry from eating his roastbeef sandwich and now Harry is running for his life, hoping to make it to Mexico come Hell or high water.

Harry is a haunted man, haunted by his messed up childhood, haunted by his minimal intelligence, haunted by his one and only failed marriage and haunted by the direction America is heading. Now Harry is a hunted man. Calvin Evans, a washed out FBI agent (that's what happens when you mess with little girls) is hired by Landon to find and bring Harry to Justice. But Calvin is damaged goods. Will he succeed where the police and the FBI have failed?

Harry's escapades soon grab the nation and everyone wants to be Harry McBride. One man, Grover Budd, a well-known syndicated radio personality, has it in for Harry, trying to make him out a monster every chance he gets for his own twisted personal reasons. But Harry, true to himself, jumps hurdle after hurdle determined to free himself from everything he despises.

Matt Bloom's characters, even those just thrown in to flesh out the plot, are real people, people that we can all identify with. The story of Harry's journey is not dull or lagging. Matt's word picture is sharp and vivid. He just might be the next Norman Rockwell of the printed word. The book's cover is bright with a lot of eye appeal. The word font and spacing are just right. The editing is nearly perfect, something you seldom see in a book these days. I had no problem turning the pages of Salt of the Nation. I read and enjoyed Matt's first novel and his last one. I can't wait to read his others. Matt, you know how to write right so keep on doin' it.

[Carol LaHines · Rating 5 out of 5]

Harry McBride is on the run after having punched the Republican candidate for president in the face during a photo op at the gravel plant where he works. He is immediately transformed into both folk hero and threat to democracy, his gesture fodder for pundits and political operatives and sociology professors alike. Ordinary Americans are inspired by Harry to stand up for themselves and ask him to lay hands on their children. There are punch-out contests and even a hit #1 song written about Harry’s saga. The cast of characters is memorable: Grover Budd, Harry’s talk radio nemesis; figures like Seibert, whose job is outsourced to Mexico; the waitress who takes pity on Harry. The novel is at once an arch political satire and a moving portrait of one man’s journey across the American landscape, revealing, as he goes from town to town, the American psyche. The writing is sharp and Matt Bloom a writer of evident gifts.

[John Casey · Rating 5 out of 5]

Salt of The Nation is one of those books that calls out the political establishment with well-crafted characters and thinly-veiled distaste of the state of things, all rolled up into a simple yet enjoyable story. The result is a relevant, satire-laden masterpiece.

Harry McBride punches a Presidential candidate in the face and it is caught on national television. Almost immediately, the entire nation is caught up in the question of "where is Harry McBride." But more than that, this act borne of frustration and anger at the hypocrisy and ineffectiveness of politicians captures the attention of and catalyzes an entire nation. The book follows his harried attempt to escape to Mexico, and his misadventures along the way.

In the end, it's notable that an act so callous, so ill-advised by an otherwise boring and unimportant person can have so much influence and impact on how millions of people think. Which makes the reader wonder, how messed up is our political system right now?

[James White · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matt Bloom's novel, Salt Of The Nation, blends a road trip, politics and talk show radio into a fast paced story that keeps you wondering what and who's next.

Harry McBride throws a straight right punch at all the demons in his life and knocks down a public figure instead. And not just any public figure, but a popular senator running for president of the United States. Harry evades the secret service and a dragnet of law enforcement and media while his victim, Senator Landon, ponders his next move after weathering the physical and political pain of being sucker-punched on national television.

“...You can run, McBride, but you can't hide,” A conservative talk show host tells his nation-wide audience, bating and cajoling Harry to turn himself in and admit he's a pawn of liberal political forces. Meanwhile, a disgraced PI, hired by Landon, does the footwork, tracking Harry from one small town to the next.

Author Matt Bloom puts us in the driver's seat while Harry meanders the back roads of New Jersey, Virginia, Tennessee and points south and west among the strip malls and taverns of lost American dreams. Harry hopes to put his life back together hiding in a small Mexican town, but his life keeps interfering with his plans.

While Harry struggles from behind the wheel to come to terms with his past, his celebrity as a media personality changes from fugitive to hero. Public sentiment turns a deaf ear on the media offensive and regards the forsaken gravel plant laborer as a symbol of American pluck, a celebrated underdog who stuck it to the man and got away.

Can Harry's new fame intercede in time to save him from his relentless pursuer? On a lonely desert highway, five miles from the Mexican border, Harry's fate leads him in another unexpected direction.

[Elizabeth Gauffreau · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Matt Bloom’s Salt of the Nation, Harry McBride is introduced as a New Jersey Everyman whose lunch hour sandwich and poker game at the gravel plant are disrupted by a campaign stop from presidential candidate Joseph Landon. Said candidate’s speech “decrying government assistance as the first step toward dependency,” followed by fake-smile glad handing of the workers, send Harry into a rage, and he does what Everyman would do in that situation. He hauls back and punches Landon in the face.

In today’s typical media-obsessed fashion, the punch is captured on camera, immediately goes viral, and Harry is forced to flee. He steals a car and hightails it for Mexico. Harry’s flight across the country in a stolen Ford Taurus provides the scaffolding on which Bloom builds his satire of life in these United States, starting with the division between Republicans and Democrats, fueled by self-serving lust for power as the gap between the haves and the have-nots widens.

The role of the media in manipulating public perception for the sake of ratings takes the form of radio host Grover Budd, whose broadcasts streaming through the stolen Taurus’s radio are inescapable. Religious hypocrisy is represented by Calvin Evans, an evangelical private detective with a penchant for underage girls, whom Landon hires to go after Harry. Harry himself becomes the embodiment of the Cult of Personality, as every man wants to be him, and every woman wants to sleep with him.

For me, the high point of the satire came with the scene skewering Americans’ need for consumption and competition. To earn $500 from the Big Steak Restaurant, Harry consumes a five-pound London broil, followed by a garden salad, jumbo shrimp cocktail, baked potato, and large Coke. The pursuing Calvin’s attempt ends with a trip to the hospital to get his stomach pumped.

Overall, I found myself not as engaged with the political commentary or the characters as I could have been. The point of view changed frequently among several of the characters, which may have had something to do with this reaction. On the other hand, I can’t help but wonder if March of 2021 was simply the wrong time for me to read the book--having just come off a grueling presidential election with its absurdist aftermath, an armed insurrection at the United States Capital, and hundreds of thousands dead from a virulent virus while the politicians played politics. This in turn raises the question of both the nature and the role of topical fiction. I would highly recommend Salt of the Nation as a book club selection to spark discussion of this question.