Scott McClanahan

One critic called [a:Scott McClanahan|2889877|Scott McClanahan|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1340077035p2/2889877.jpg] the Appalachian Charles Bukowski which is fitting. Described as a semi-autobiographical novel, there is much about getting drunk (with a water bottle filled with gin and two forgotten babies in the back seat as he sails along the highway), bodily fluids, camping out at Walmart, hospital tales from his estranged wife, a nurse, yet his story is engaging and very sad. There are snippets of humor but mostly it is an unflinching description of divorce, tragedy and resilience, told in beautiful melodic writing. "In one life we are dead. In one we are rich. In one we are poor. In one we are parents. But always we belong to others."

Thanks to Backlisted.fm for pointing me toward this story and to so many other books.… (més)

Alternately hilarious and sad, this heartfelt, somewhat fictionalized autobiography of growing up in West Virginia is short and well worth reading (or listening to the audiobook--after a while, you'll think you're hearing the author himself.) In our lives, we have probably all encountered a few people like those in this book, but to encounter them all in one lifetime seems like too much. Luckily, McClanahan has writing for an outlet. This book is a very hard to define hybrid of West Virginia history, including several notable disasters and other stories, and family history. What is lacking in the end, is a sense of the author himself. His role in the stories is generally that of an onlooker, and we end up with no idea of how he ended up as a teacher and writer. Still, this is an unusual experience and well worth diving into.… (més)

It was OK. I read it in part because I'm waiting for McClanahan's newest book, The Sarah Book, to become available at my library (I'm on the hold list for it), and I was curious enough about his writing to read this one, since it was immediately available. I appreciate the unorthodox style and tone of the book, in part because some of what I write does not necessarily fit any mold. My interest in the story and the people McClanahan grew as I read, but I didn't feel particularly moved by most of it. Oddly, I found the Appendix, where McClanahan sets the record straight about what liberties he took with facts in the rest of book, to be the most intriguing chapter of the book. I will still read The Sarah Book when my turn comes, though. Maybe I'll get more out of his fiction than I did out of this.… (més)