Lives of Quiet Desperation

In “What Good is a Story?” (an essay from her 2002 collection, Small Wonder), Barbara Kingsolver wonders why Americans (who tend to lead very busy lives) are willing to pick up massive novels but unwilling to pick up short story collections.  Bonnie Jo Campbell’s American Salvage proves that a great story collection is worth the time.

The characters in Campbell’s stories (set in rural and small-town Michigan) are largely working-class, down-on-their-luck, struggling-for-a-break men and women.  The young husband who can’t leave his meth-addicted wife because of their newborn child.  The laid-off janitor who can’t support his wife and step-kids on the small salary he makes as a groundskeeper.  The foundry worker (badly wounded and disfigured on the job) who accidentally runs down a teen-aged girl on a foggy, pre-dawn road.  The man who breaks both legs in a boating accident and can’t accept the kindness of his girlfriend.  The young woman abused by her uncle.  The woman who hopes for a better life (with her much older husband) on his dying farm.  The man who accidentally sets his own leg on fire when he is pulled over by a police officer.

Hope and happiness are infrequent (but not entirely absent) in these stories, yet this is an incredibly powerful and moving collection.  Campbell creates real characters and—in just a matter of pages—makes her reader connect and care.  American Salvage is definitely one of the best books that I have read recently!