Helpful Score: 2
Although fairly well written, I kept reading this book hoping to find redemption, hope, a light in the forest somewhere. Didn't find it. All these characters are a mess. Abrupt ending, very unsatisfying. Disappointing.
Helpful Score: 1
Not an uplifting book but shows how one decision can alter so many lives. Well written - kept my interest. Did it for my book club and had interesting discussion.
Helpful Score: 1
A disappointment. Overrated.
After finishing American Rust, I felt the same way I did after I'd read Grapes of Wrath. The rust in the title is applicable to the decaying mining town in western Pennsylvania and to the essential spirit of those who live there.
It is an astounding debut novel because it fully captures the motivations and broken dreams of the main characters by devoting alternating chapters to each one while being told in the third person. The plot is bleak, depressing and violent as it alternates from life in the mining town to incarceration to a young man trying to run away from his memories.
The aspect of this novel that saves it from utter hopelessness is the strength of the friendship between Issac and Poe. There is an honor in their unstated commitment to each other that transcends the boundaries of their lives.
It is an astounding debut novel because it fully captures the motivations and broken dreams of the main characters by devoting alternating chapters to each one while being told in the third person. The plot is bleak, depressing and violent as it alternates from life in the mining town to incarceration to a young man trying to run away from his memories.
The aspect of this novel that saves it from utter hopelessness is the strength of the friendship between Issac and Poe. There is an honor in their unstated commitment to each other that transcends the boundaries of their lives.
A different kind of novel for me, but I really enjoyed it. Highly recommended.
Really liked this book. Looking forward to his upcoming new novel.
Philipp Meyer did a great job setting up the scene and characters readers can get behind in American Rust, but once he sets them in motion, the momentum peters out. In Rust Belt America, Issac and Poe encounter trouble in an abandoned steel mill that threatens to unravel their lives. However, once this central conflict is presented, the two young men and other characters in this small-town drama go off into their own internal conflicts. All the voices sound distinct, but towards the end the story doesn't come together, just as formerly prosperous steel towns in rural Pennsylvania never recovered. This book on the list of 1001 books you should read before you die offers a stark view of an American postindustrial dystopia.
Excellent read. Meyer has a real feel for the people of that moment in that place. Recommend.
