Population: 485 (A Book Review)

Michael Perry, Population: 485, Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time (San Francisco: Harper Perennial, 2003), 234 pages

After twelve years of wandering, Michael Perry returns to the land on which he was raised. An established author, who is also a nurse, he settles in the town of New Auburn, a place where the town office will lend out their sewer rod and not far from the dairy farm where he grew up milking cows. He joins the local fire department. The membership requirements aren’t too tough, he suggests. He has to be able to move and have a driver’s licenses. Helping his cause is his flexible schedule, allowing him to be on-call whenever he’s home. This book is the story of Perry meeting the people he served as a fireman and EMT.

Perry’s writing is folksy and humorous. Although each of the stories can stand alone, they are arranged in somewhat of a chronicle order. The first and last stories are tear-jerkers. The first, titled “Jabowski Corner,” tells of a particularly danger bend in a road. Soon after joining the fire department, Perry is called to a wreck at the location. In telling about the high school girl who’d lost control of her car, he recalls other accidents he’d know about at the curve. We learn of the nearby farmer for who the curve was named. We learn of the rescue squad’s valiant efforts and how they’re thankful when they get her onto the waiting helicopter, still alive. Getting her to the hospital gives her a chance. And we learn she doesn’t make it through the night. The book ends with even a sadder story. “Sarah” is about another accident victim, his young sister-in-law. Although Perry was out of town when the accident occurred, he writes of the hardship of being called to an accident when it’s family. In a small town surrounded by rural country, this happens too often. On the call were both of Perry’s brothers (including her husband), along with their mother who is an EMT. But between the sadness, there are lots of laughter and good times and Perry catches it all.

Each story centers on a theme. In one, he deals with his relationship with his brothers as he discusses fighting a structural fire. In another, he takes a jogging tour of the town, pointing out the sites and the town’s history. In another essay, we’re drowned in alphabet soup as Perry explains the procedure an EMT uses when approaching a victim. It begins with the ABCs (airway, breathing, circulation), and then gets more complicated. As I read each story, I was treated by being introduced to the characters around the fire department. A favorite is Beagle, a butcher whose two ex-wives both work at the town’s only convenience store.

Having just read the Rick Bragg’s family trilogy, I must compare Bragg and Perry. In a way, they’re both similar. Both stick out in the big Eastern Cities (Perry gets pleasure in hanging his “Billy Bob’s Honky-tonk jacket next to mink coats, while Bragg threatens to whip an intellect's ass at a Harvard dinner). Perry admits his inability at diagramming sentences, while Bragg is proud that he won a Pulitzer without having graduated from college. The sadness in Bragg’s stories come from the poverty he endured; in Perry’s stories, the sadness centers around the suffering of others. Both, ironically, write about a place named Auburn and make reference to its name in 18th century poem. Both authors are humorous, but I think Bragg is funnier than his Yankee counterpart. That said, I still recommend this book. It’s a treat and you’ll enjoy losing yourself in the stories.

My advice to Perry and his publisher… To really pull off the “redneck Yankee” persona, that cow crossing sign on the cover needs a few strategically shot bullet holes. Thanks TC for recommending Perry to me!
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