American Rust
I finished reading 'American Rust' just before the talking heads starting talking about the 'rust belt' and talking and talking and talking.
There are places in America that have been forgotten, thousands of towns that have lost the industry that was once at their heart - mills and factories went dark and with that loss of jobs many towns floundered as shops closed and municipalities struggled to maintain infrastructure. Its a difficult situation. In this novel, Isaac English and Billy Poe are products of a failing town. Isaac has been trapped for four years taking care of his ailing father after his mother died and his sister escaped to college. Billy was a football star in high school and has failed to make anything of himself since.
Isaac decides to finally leave, Billy tags along, and everything that can go wrong goes wrong.
Billy's mother, the town sheriff, and Isaac's sister get involved in the narrative, adding their own tales of woe to an already bleak picture. Not that the novel shouldn't be bleak, but I felt it was missing something - Isaac's journey especially - that prevented it from being more than a frustrating series of events. Timely, but not my bag.
