Population: 485 : Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time

Rating:
Summary: Pleasant Surprise!
Review: I am a former resident of the small town in Mike Perry's new book, Population 485. Thinking the book would be a humorous depiction of life in the midwest, I settled down for a light-hearted story. Though there was indeed some laughter, there was also tears and wisdom gained through Mike's insights on the meaning of life. This ranks as one of my favorite books and highly recommend it to everyone. I am now looking forward to his next book!

Rating:
Summary: Birth, Life, Death- the whole damn thing
Review: Lyrical, sometimes funny, often meditative observations on small-town life. This book is similar in flavor to Thomas Lynch's The Undertaking. The author's ruminations about his life, past and present, arise out of the emergency calls he responds to as a part his town's volunteer fire department and EMS response unit. While the subject matter may seem depressing, it certainly is much more about life, especially the well lived life, rather than death. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful!
Review: This is a beautiful book. When you consider the subject matter, the tragedies of everyday life in a small town, this book risked being dark and depressing. I found it to be quite the opposite. Mike Perry finds the grace that can come from senseless accidents. Buy multiple copies and start handing them out to your friends.
(I already wrote a review of this book but it never got posted, so if it ever turns up, I apologize for repeating myself.)

Rating:
Summary: Raves for Population 485
Review: In one short paragraph, Michael Perry can summon the power to make you laugh, cry and think deeply about the human condition. His considerable powers of observation and description bring his town and his people to life - you find yourself looking for their pickups in the lane next to you. And you find them - because his people are your neighbors, your friends and strangers with the sound turned up too loud - you just never looked at them through Perry's volunteer fireman's goggles before. Buy two copies - one to read and one to save for that day, not too far off, when a first edition Michael Perry will be a thing to treasure.

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Summary: Capturing the Heart of Small Town America
Review: Michael Perry's novel is an accessible book that tugs at the heart of its readers. While it looks at the foibles and follies of country folk, it has a universal quality to it. His sensitivity to the human spirit is shown and felt in this delightful piece. Readers will find themselves both laughing and crying at characters who are real because their source and substance are real. Perry is Wisconsin's version of Garrison Keillor and Jon Hassler.

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Summary: Small Town Living Captured Perfectly
Review: From describing interactions between feuding high school sweethearts in the middle of Main Street to Kodiak-chewing characters that make you say, "I know that guy," the picture of small town living Michael Perry creates for readers is dead on. I couldn't stop reading, laughing, sighing, shaking my head - this book has it all. Because I was raised small town Abrams, Wisconsin, I can honestly say that Perry captures the bittersweet life people live there and, he made me a little homesick. Please read this book!

Rating:
Summary: Ride On!
Review: Perry has the feel of a small town, from the point of view of a volunteer, down pat. I know, I live in the same small town in Tennessee, and am an active member of the Pine Grove Volunteer Fire Department. His details are technically correct, and presented from my own point of view! It drags and wanders a little in places, but was so much fun that I attribute the transgressions to one more quirky member of the VFD. If I ever have an accident in Cheesetown, I hope it's in Nabburn!

Rating:
Summary: A Highly Enjoyable Montage
Review: POPULATION: 485 - MEETING YOUR NEIGHBORS ONE SIREN AT A TIME is a collection of essays written by Michael Perry, an EMT and nurse whose reflections on life and death in a small Wisconsin town are, at turns, both hilarious and heartbreaking. The cast of characters is about as eclectic and eccentric as they come and though Perry does indulge in some cockeyed and occasionally dark humor, it's always balanced out by his obvious empathy for his fellow man. In a voice that is refreshingly honest and painfully real, Perry weaves a heartwarming tapestry using story threads that represent some of the highest and lowest (and occasionally final) moments in his neighbors' lives. His literary style and introspective observations are both distinctive and disarming, creating a reading experience that is satisfying on many levels. Perry may be a small-town boy at heart but his tales about the sometimes tragic and often quirky ebb and flow of life in this tiny rural community will resonate within the hearts of even the biggest city dwellers.


Rating:
Summary: Remarkable
Review: I live in a town of 18,000 in Wisconin and work in healthcare. This is a remarkably well written work from the heart. It is a delight to have found a book that so eloquently captures many of the sentiments that are generated by the privledges and difficulties inherent in caring for ones neighbors. Very touching - without being maudlin.



Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, pure and simple.
Review: I should say at the outset that I am a city girl, a big city girl -- older city woman at this point! -- who has little to relate to in the everyday doings of the residents of New Auburn. And, I'm an avowed fiction reader (for the most part.) But I loved it. It is wise and very funny and I must remember to thank my friend who recommended it to me. It can be read all at once, as I did, or in little bits. The chapters may seem to be rather arbitrarily organized. but it works. I certainly learned things, but more importantly I got to know a whole bunch of people I wouldn't have otherwise and see the world through their eyes for a little bit. It was fun. Certainly poignant and even tragic, but one of the all around best books I've read in a while.