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Mar
06
Book Review: American Rust by Philipp Meyer
2009 at 9am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
I received this book from Library Thing Early Reviewers.
Recently published February 24, 2009 by Spiegel & Grau (a division of Random House)
When we first meet Isaac English and Billy Poe, they are on their way out of town. Buell, Pennsylvania, a dying steel town, has seen better days and bears the appearance of “a place that had recently been well off.” The boys—men, really, but at 20, they still seem like boys—have seen their friends and families suffer, and they know they need to get out before Buell kills them, too.
Isaac, a young man who should have, by all accounts, joined his sister Lee at Yale, has instead spent the last several years caring for his father, who was injured on the job, since his mother committed suicide by jumping into a frozen lake. Isaac’s stream-of-consciousness narration reveals that he has some interesting psychological symptoms, so we’re not too surprised to learn that he had “gone mental” a few months prior and knows he needs to leave Buell, or it will happen again.
Billy Poe, on the other hand, just seems to be along for the ride. An odd match for Isaac, Billy was a successful football player in high school, and everyone expected him to play in college. Held back by his self-doubt, an inability to resist a fight, and more than a few run-ins with the law, Billy has begun to realize that he is never going to have the future he wants if he stays in Buell, and it seems that his neighbors in Buell actually enjoy watching his downfall.
The others were all happy to see the king come back to earth, he had been someone and now he was not—that was a story everyone liked to hear. The human race—they despised anyone they thought was better than them.
When, on their way out of town, Isaac and Billy accidentally commit murder, their plans are thrown awry, and we are pulled into a story that allows us insight into the minds of Isaac, Billy, and many of their family members and neighbors. (Don’t worry—that’s not a spoiler. The book jacket description mentions the murder, too.)
A riveting debut novel from Philipp Meyer, American Rust is one part how’s-it-going-to-work-out plotline and one part thoughtful excavation of the deeper issues facing the people of a dying town, and it functions equally well on both levels. Written consistently in third-person omniscient, American Rust gives us chapters from many characters’ perspectives.Through this shifting narrative, we get to know Isaac and Billy, along with Isaac’s sister and father, Billy’s mother, and Chief Harris (who is investigating the murder and is wrought with internal conflict because of his on again-off again relationship with Billy’s mother), and we come to understand exactly how bleak their prospects are.
Nothing you can see that won’t outlast you—rocks sky sun. Watch a sunset and feel like you own it but it’s been rising without you for a thousand years.
The people of Buell have it rough. They do not have the luxury of living in the moment, of enjoying the natural beauty of their surroundings or temporarily forgetting about their own mortality. They go through each day knowing that they are one day closer to the end of life, and their depression (which leads them to a whole host of unsavory, unhealthy, and potentially life-ending decisions) is made even worse by the feeling that they have been abandoned by their country and devalued by their fellow citizens.
There were certain places and certain people who mattered a lot more than others. Not a single dime was being spent to rebuild Buell.
As we witness Isaac and Billy’s experiences in the aftermath of the murder, we realize that even those people who, like Isaac’s sister Lee, succeed in leaving Buell, are never really able to escape from its path of destruction. As Chief Harris reflects on what might happen to Billy and Isaac, he tells us that he sees things like this happening all over, and it does not bode well.
It was like this all up and down the river and many of the young people, the way they accepted their lack of prospects, it was like watching sparks die in the night.
I won’t go any further into details of the plot because this really is a wonderfully told story that will keep you interested from the very first word to the very last, and I wouldn’t want to spoil it for you. So let me just say this: every character and every moment of this book bear the unmistakeable ring of truth, and this makes it at times frightening, heartbreaking, touching, and desperately bleak. At its core, this is a novel about despair and hopelessness and what happens to people when they run out of options.
This is a very sad, very powerful story that is made even more potent by the fact that it could easily have been written as a memoir or biography of real people who live in towns like Buell all across America. Meyer’s writing is strong and well-paced, his use of language and voice to convey each character’s personality and perspective is revelatory, and he uses his story so successfully that we feel not only that we know Isaac, Billy, Harris, and the rest, but that we feel that they are real people.
And in a way, they are real people. American Rust is a work of fiction, but the issues it explores are very real. People have been living unfulfilled lives and dying untimely deaths in towns like Buell for years now, and this book serves as a cautionary tale and a warning of what might be to come if we do not examine our values and reset our priorities. A less skilled writer would have hit readers over the head with these ideas, but Meyer’s approach is consistently even-handed and subtle, never preachy or melodramatic. It is impossible to take in the story without also taking in these themes, but they are presented elegantly and intelligently and with great sympathy.
I enjoyed American Rust immensely, and I think readers who don’t mind an ending that is less than happy will, too. Early reviews have compared Meyer to Steinbeck and Cormac McCarthy, and while it’s too early to tell for sure, I think there’s a good chance that American Rust will leave a similar legacy. Buell reminded me of the seen-better-days towns from Richard Russo’s novels; though the story is much darker, the characters are complex and painfully human, and their emotional lives and interpersonal conflicts are familiar and universally relatable.
American Rust is a compelling, relevant, revelatory debut, and I can’t wait to see what Philipp Meyer brings us next. 4.75 out of 5.
To learn more, visit the author’s website,
Copyright secured by Digiprove © 2010 Rebecca Schinsky
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[...] Book Review: American Rust by Philipp Meyer [...]
I just learned of the book recently, and it does look pretty great. I just added to by library requests. Great Review
I’m in the middle of American Rust now and agree that it’s very well done. The style is one that could have made this a difficult book to read, but it fits both the characters and the pacing of the plot. I think Meyer is certainly an author to keep an eye on.
Your review definitely drew me in. I’m intrigued about the ending. Not every good story ends happily.
Your reviews are always fantastic! I’m looking forward to reading this book.
Starring this to come back and read after I read this…
[...] Book Review: American Rust by Philipp Meyer [...]
Two mentions in a day about the same interesting-sounding book… I’m really curious to read this now. I’ll be honest – I don’t want to know too much about the plot, but the line about the not-happy ending jumped out at me. And to be even more frank… I’m pretty okay with that.
[...] Medieval Bookworm ~ Merry Weather ~ Cheryl’s Book Nook ~ The Book Lady’s Blog [...]
[...] (nicer) reviews: The Book Lady’s Blog The Bluestocking Society [...]
I think I’m going to have to link to you in a ‘nicer reviews’ section like Word Lily did, I really didn’t care for this much at all. It was well done, I agree, but at times it seemed to me like Meyer was trying too hard. I really didn’t like how the narrative occasionally switched to 2nd person in Isaac (and at least once in Lee)’s sections. I didn’t hate the book, but I’m extremely ‘meh’ about it.
I’ve recently read & reviewed this as well, and I, too, found it riveting. Great review; thanks for sharin’ it!
I am in the middle of this one…and feeling a bit mixed about it at this point. but I will soldier one and then make my final decision on it.
Good review. I didn’t like it nearly as much as you did — I thought it had definite problems. My review is here: http://rosecityreader.blogspot.com/2009/09/review-of-day-american-rust.html
If you want me to post a link to your review, please leave a comment on mine. I don’t like to link without permission unless I’m already blogger buddies with the reviewer.
[...] For more info and links to my reviews:American Rust by Philipp Meyer [...]