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A review by mollybonovskyanderson
Crapalachia: A Biography of a Place by Scott McClanahan
5.0
I don't usually read fast, but I read this in two sittings. It's not what I expected--less outright humor and more nostalgia and affection, and meditation on death and tragedy. It's written very simply but evoked very solid images for me. The author admits, in the appendix, to combining characters and their quirks and stories but I appreciated his honesty and that knowledge didn't detract from the overall feel I took from the book. I think Crapalachia is summed up well in this passage that concludes a story about the author's friend breaking into school and causing lots of damage, only to steal several boxes of salt and vinegar chips.
"There was only thing to learn from this.
The world was a weird world.
The world was a joke.
Oh well."
I wouldn't even necessarily call this "Southern literature." It's about those people you knew and loved and sometimes couldn't figure out and shook your head at and did stupid things but you still cared for them and you still think of them from time to time. It happens everywhere, to everyone, and Scott McClanahan writes about it in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened to you. He writes with affection not only for the subjects, but for the reader.
"There was only thing to learn from this.
The world was a weird world.
The world was a joke.
Oh well."
I wouldn't even necessarily call this "Southern literature." It's about those people you knew and loved and sometimes couldn't figure out and shook your head at and did stupid things but you still cared for them and you still think of them from time to time. It happens everywhere, to everyone, and Scott McClanahan writes about it in a way that makes it feel like it could have happened to you. He writes with affection not only for the subjects, but for the reader.