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Crapalachia A Biography of Place Scott McClanahan 9781937512033 Books

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Crapalachia A Biography of Place Scott McClanahan 9781937512033 Books

"Even though I was only 14 years old, there was no telling when the angel of death might come to get my ass."

This is a book about suicide, dead miners, and children being left to scream and writhe in pain because their parents can't afford doctors.

And yet, I couldn't stop laughing.

"She told us the story about how he was trying to get his pension from the mines. But before he got it, he had to fight for a couple of months. He finally got a letter that went..."Dear Mr. McClanahan, we regret to inform you that we're unable to approve you at this time. Please send your response within seven days and we'll schedule another hearing."
Elgie didn't say anything.
He just took it down to the outhouse and wiped his ass with it. Then he put it back into the envelope, sealed it up, and sent it back."

McClanahan creates wonderful, embellished portraits of family members and friends, at their best and at their worst, doing the things they need to do to endure life.

Here is one tale of young Scott and his Uncle Nathan, who had cerebral palsy:

"The next night was radio preacher night. That only meant one thing. My Uncle Nathan was going to drink beer. He just kept groaning and pointing at the beer and then pointing at his feeding tube. What was the use of drinking beer when you could immediately pour a six-pack in your stomach tube and have it shoot into your bloodstream that much quicker? I poured the beer in and then I poured another. I cracked another and another. Then I did the rest. He smiled and then burped. It smelled like a beer burp."

Though I did not grow up in rural West Virginia, this reminded me so much of my mother's side of the family. They were farmers, beauticians and business people. I was the first to graduate from college. This was a family obsessed with death, funerals and graveyards. God was there to be worshipped and feared. He didn't do favors.

The stories are told using simple language, no four dollar words here, and yet they cut right to the heart of the matter.

I love this part SO MUCH:

"Both of them just reached out and shook my hand. They shook my hand like they didn't know what to do. Their mother had just died and they were different now. They were free?"

Oh, that question mark at the end! That really says it all. That is exactly what it's like.


Tags : Crapalachia: A Biography of Place [Scott McClanahan] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. <div> When Scott McClanahan was fourteen he went to live with his Grandma Ruby and his Uncle Nathan,Scott McClanahan,Crapalachia: A Biography of Place,Two Dollar Radio,1937512037,Personal Memoirs,Regional Studies,Authors, American - 21st century,Biographical fiction.,McClanahan, Scott - Childhood and youth,West Virginia,West Virginia - Social life and customs,West Virginia;Fiction.,BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY Personal Memoirs,Biographical fiction,Biography & Autobiography,Biography Autobiography,BiographyAutobiography,Family & RelationshipsGeneral,Family & relationships,Fiction,GENERAL,General Adult,HISTORY United States State & Local South (AL, AR, FL, GA, KY, LA, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV),History,HistoryUnited States - State & Local - South (AL,AR,FL,GA,KY,LA,MS,NC,SC,TN,VA,WV),McClanahan, Scott,Non-Fiction,SOCIAL SCIENCE Regional Studies,Social ScienceRegional Studies,United States,United States - State & Local - South

Crapalachia A Biography of Place Scott McClanahan 9781937512033 Books Reviews

This was my introduction to Scott McClanahan's work and I bought it for the title alone. Being from mountain descent myself, I knew I was going to identify with any book that had the courage to call itself Crapalachia. My hunch was justified. Not only did I identify, this book hits close to home. There were several characters who could have been members of my own family.

McClanahan uses a stream-of-consciousness narrative to tell stories or mini stories about people he grew up with as a boy in West Virginia. This narrative tool is brilliant in that it wonderfully captures the inner-thinking of a young teen; i.e. inability to stay on one subject, casually tosses out a profundity then changes the subject, mistakes nonsense for profundity and elaborates with more nonsense, etc. The narrator is quite believable and very entertaining.

Within a few pages, I was strongly reminded of Truman Capote's stories about his childhood in New Orleans. Like Capote, McClanahan has the gift of finding humor and fascination amongst people that many of us would dismiss. I do not possess that gift and am humbled by people who do. It would never have occurred to me to write about a 52 year old man who had cerebral palsy, who watches Benny Hinn, and lived with his mother. I would have found such a person pitiful. But, in McClanahan's hands, his Uncle Nathan comes across as a funny devil-may-care personality who might be more aware of what's going on than most.

In writing down these stories of, if I may use the term, forgotten people, McClanahan makes the plea that even though these people may not have been great or noble, they deserve to be remembered.

Don't we all?

Scott McClanahan has every reason to be proud of this book.
I really recommend this book, especially if you are from the Appalachian region. I am from West Virginia and nearly cried more than once while reading the book. McClanahan has a gift for capturing the frustrations and the beauty of the region. More to the point, he has a gift for jumping back and forth between the two. He speaks to the importance of mountains, the frustrations of young people, and how religion, family, violence, sexuality, and poverty resonate in certain mountain communities in ways that are very difficult to explain. I have assigned the book in university courses I teach to get people talking about culture and how populations are divided and stratified based on values and associations. The vast majority of my students really like the book and find it quite thought provoking.

McClanahan writes in an oddly page turning way too. He doesn't finish chapters with compelling cliffhangers, but I found the book hard to put down all the same. I think his writing envelopes you in the context and to leave it to return to your own surroundings can be jarring sometimes.

Long story short, I really recommend this book to all readers. I would be shocked if you found no value in it at all.
"Even though I was only 14 years old, there was no telling when the angel of death might come to get my ass."

This is a book about suicide, dead miners, and children being left to scream and writhe in pain because their parents can't afford doctors.

And yet, I couldn't stop laughing.

"She told us the story about how he was trying to get his pension from the mines. But before he got it, he had to fight for a couple of months. He finally got a letter that went..."Dear Mr. McClanahan, we regret to inform you that we're unable to approve you at this time. Please send your response within seven days and we'll schedule another hearing."
Elgie didn't say anything.
He just took it down to the outhouse and wiped his ass with it. Then he put it back into the envelope, sealed it up, and sent it back."

McClanahan creates wonderful, embellished portraits of family members and friends, at their best and at their worst, doing the things they need to do to endure life.

Here is one tale of young Scott and his Uncle Nathan, who had cerebral palsy

"The next night was radio preacher night. That only meant one thing. My Uncle Nathan was going to drink beer. He just kept groaning and pointing at the beer and then pointing at his feeding tube. What was the use of drinking beer when you could immediately pour a six-pack in your stomach tube and have it shoot into your bloodstream that much quicker? I poured the beer in and then I poured another. I cracked another and another. Then I did the rest. He smiled and then burped. It smelled like a beer burp."

Though I did not grow up in rural West Virginia, this reminded me so much of my mother's side of the family. They were farmers, beauticians and business people. I was the first to graduate from college. This was a family obsessed with death, funerals and graveyards. God was there to be worshipped and feared. He didn't do favors.

The stories are told using simple language, no four dollar words here, and yet they cut right to the heart of the matter.

I love this part SO MUCH

"Both of them just reached out and shook my hand. They shook my hand like they didn't know what to do. Their mother had just died and they were different now. They were free?"

Oh, that question mark at the end! That really says it all. That is exactly what it's like.