American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
American Salvage, a brand-new book by the acclaimed Michigan author Bonnie Jo Campbell, is filled with vivid local detail and features rural characters who extravagantly love and hate. They can hunt and clean wildlife, mend vehicles and washing machines, and make methamphetamine, but they haven’t worked out how to thrive in the twenty-first century. Campbell depicts the desperation of post-industrial America through the complicated interior lives of working-class characters, where wildlife, employment, and entire modes of life go extinct and the people are forced to exist off what is left over.
American Salvage by Bonnie Jo Campbell
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Many of the stories, which alternate between being tragic, terrible, and bizarrely humorous, are set against the bleak backdrop of the Michigan winter. In a pole barn with chickens and survival guides, one man gets ready for the end of the world, which is supposed to happen at midnight on December 31, 1999. A man’s bigoted and sexist perspective is altered by a painful burn. His meth-dependent wife is shooting up on the other side of the bathroom door, and the other person must decide what to do about her. A teen sharpshooter must plan a form of retaliation that will make her feel entire once more. Her characters are steadfast while being weak, perplexed, and occasionally enraged. Campbell follows them as they reassemble their lives, hold onto their dreams and hopes, and show love while being alone. This heartfelt and moving collection of stories will appeal to fellow Michiganders, readers who appreciate short stories, and general readers.
Bonnie Jo Campbell has a remarkable talent for being both objective and caring about her characters at the same time. She examines how terrible it can be to mix socioeconomic deprivation with problematic family relationships, therefore it’s great that she has those attributes. It’s especially crucial that she avoids melodrama given her subject matter. Due to the pressure they’re under, her characters often let each other down, yet they also frequently display emotional strength by making modest concessions and standing by one another.
The characters in this excellent collection of short stories are clearly delineated. Many of the stories have strong, well-written internal monologues. These pieces excel in character development, something that many other authors struggle to do in their short stories. The characters are sympathetic, realistically rural, and well-built. Moreover, it has a substantial plot that moves ahead gradually over time.
