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| Plot Summary of Population 485 |
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"After nineteen years away, writer/EMT Mike Perry returns to his hometown of New Auburn, Wisconsin (population: 485) and joins the volunteer fire department. Two of his brothers are also volunteers, their mother is an EMT, and the operation functions within such a small, tightly-knit community that nearly all emergency calls have some personal relevance to them.
Perry reflects on many of the town's traditions and characters, beginning with the history New Auburn, its inhabitants, and its fire department. He spends several chapters describing his sometimes hilarious, sometimes gruesome personal experiences as a nurse and urban ambulance worker before his eventual return home, as well as small town lawn ornamentation, vanishing family farms and businesses, and the difficulties of "belonging" in a town where, as he says, "working-class prejudice never quite shakes the idea of art as frivolity." The book concludes with Perry's retelling of an incident in which tragedy strikes his own family, and the book's theme of family and neighbors rescuing each other. "
Jacqueline West, Resident Scholar
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| Review Analysis of Population 485 |
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Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about books by breaking them down into many different literary elements, all of which are searchable (click here).
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Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
job/profession:
- firefighter
Job/profession/poverty story
Yes
Ethnic/regional/gender
Yes
Period of greatest activity?
- 1950+
Big/small town?
- small town
Subject of Biography
Gender
- Male
Profession/status:
- writer
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Ethnicity
- White
Nationality
- American (!)
How sensitive is this person?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor
- Strong but gentle sense of humor
Intelligence
- Smarter than most other people
Physique
- very athletic
Setting
How much descriptions of surroundings?
- 7 ()
United States
Yes
The US:
- Midwest
Small town?
Yes
Small town people:
- nice, like Andy/Opie/Aunt Bee
Century:
- 1980's-Present
Style
Person
- mostly 1st
Accounts of torture and death?
- explicit references to deaths
Is book humorous?
Yes
If humorous, kind of humor
- gentle
Commentary on society?
Yes
Unusual Style:
- a lot of flashback and forwards
- a lot of stream of consciousness
Writer's slant towards subject:
- favorable
Story of entire life, or part?
- story of set of events during life
Autobiography?
Yes
Pictures/Illustrations?
- None
How much dialogue in bio?
- significantly more descript than dialog
How much is philosophy rather than life story?
- 0-25% of book
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Click here for more information about this book
Mike Perry Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Jacqueline West
SCHOLARS:
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Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
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