Population: 485 CD Review
Michael Perry returns back to his home town, New Auburn, Wisconsin. A town in Northwestern Wisconsin, Population 485. He left 10 years ago and landed in Wyoming were he worked as a cowboy and put himself through nursing school.
Now he is home, has bought a house on Main Street and is happy to be closer to his mother and brothers. Both his brothers belong to the fire department and his mother is a first responder for the area. Michael decides the best way to reconnect with the community is to join the fire department and use his nursing training to study to become an EMT and his mother joins him in the class.
This is your typical small town, everyone knows everything about everybody, and Michael thinks it's the perfect place to write. Using the emergency calls, grass and chimney fires, accidents and dinners as background for his stories he brings the little town to life on the pages of this book. Humor and tragedy, heartbreak and devastating heartache we meet Michael's neighbors one siren at a time.
I LIKED IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I had several reasons for wanting to read this book. First, when I started this blog I challenged myself to read books written by Wisconsin authors or that used Wisconsin as the setting for the story. This books meets both those requirements.
Secondly, I am from a small town in Wisconsin, a little bigger than New Auburn, but growing up there was pure joy and at that time, everyone knew everything about everybody. That town has changed and grown and is no longer the town of my memories.
Also while growing up in that small town, my father was a fireman, later the fire chief, and when the fire department was in charge of the ambulance service he was the equivalent of what is now an EMT or First Responder. He even had the Fire Training School at Madison Area Technical College dedicated to him just 2 weeks after he died.
The stories in this book were wonderfully told and brought back so many memories. It prompted a call to my sister who had also read the book some time ago and we spent an hour reminiscing about our dad, who passed away in 1988, some of the stories were so funny, we wish we could write a book. Thank you Michael Perry for writing this book and giving us our Dad back for a few minutes.
Michael Perry has the gift of storytelling and anyone who likes to read about life in a small town, firefighters, EMTs, or anyone who believes in giving back will appreciate and truly enjoy this book. If you would just like to read a good story told by a fresh voice you will like this book.
Note: This book was published in 2002 and new copies of this book may be hard to find but there are plenty used copies available at both [...] and Amazon.com.
This book was from my private collection. No compensation was received.
Population: 485 CD Overview
Welcome to New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485), where the local vigilante is a farmer's wife armed with a pistol and a Bible, the most senior member of the volunteer fire department is a cross-eyed butcher with one kidney and two ex-wives (both of whom work at the only gas station in town), and the back roads are haunted by the ghosts of children and farmers. Michael Perry loves this place. He grew up here, and now -- after a decade away -- he has returned.
Unable to polka or repair his own pickup, his farm-boy hands gone soft after years of writing, Mike figures the best way to regain his credibility is to join the volunteer fire department. Against a backdrop of fires and tangled wrecks, bar fights and smelt feeds, he tells a frequently comic tale leavened with moments of heartbreaking delicacy and searing tragedy. Tracing his calls on a map in the little firehouse, he sees "a dense, benevolent web, spun one frantic zigzag at a time" from which the story of a tiny town emerges, building to a final chapter that is at once devastating and transcendent.
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Customer Reviews
just OK - THOMAS J SCHOMER - LINCOLN, NE, US
This book was OK, but not nearly as entertaining or amusing as Truck or Coop
Seriously, what a wonderful surprise! - lauren - Japan
The cover and description made this book seem like it would be only quirky vignettes about small town red-necks. While it was that to a degree, it was so much more thoughtful, intelligent, exciting, funny, and poignant than that, without being maudlin. Perry faces his characters with respect, without looking down on them for being country folk, as many writers returning to their home towns might be tempted to do. Being from a small town myself (and my stepfather a volunteer firefighter), I could relate to a lot of what he said, but he brought a lot of depth, history, and humor to it all. I teared up several times and laughed aloud several times too. I highly recommend this diamond in the hay...
Landscapes of the human spirit - William J Higgins III - Laramie, Wyoming United States
Michael Perry's "Population 485" is a wonderful reminisce in the life of a volunteer firefighter and EMT in a small rural Wisconsin town.
The stories are many while performing these vital duties and responsibilities. From the people Perry meets and interfaces with, to the events he witnesses, it's as good as it gets from an insider's viewpoint. Perceptive and insightful.
Several emotions surface while reading the book. Perry is humorous, heartfelt, genuine and pensive. His ponderings on place and space in time reach deep into the realms of being.
Hearing these stories from Perry's spin of writing and viewpoint was a pleasure.
*** Product Information and Prices Stored: Sep 17, 2010 21:45:06
