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Joy, Pa
Contributor(s): Sherrill, Steven (Author)
ISBN: 0807159565     ISBN-13: 9780807159569
Publisher: LSU Press
OUR PRICE:   $20.25  
Product Type: Paperback - Other Formats
Published: February 2015
Qty:
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Fiction | Literary
Dewey: 813.54
LCCN: 2014026204
Series: Yellow Shoe Fiction
Physical Information: 0.7" H x 5.5" W x 8.4" (0.65 lbs) 272 pages
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

A darkly insightful evocation of the post-industrial era, Joy, PA tells the story of a family teetering on the precipice of ruin. The Augenbaughs live in a broken and decaying town where the last vestiges of country-club wealth run up against the terrible realities of working-class poverty. Abigail, a fervent believer in the apocalyptic teachings of a radio preacher, is desperate to save her son from Judgment Day as she readies herself for the Rapture-due to arrive in just a few days. Her husband, Burns, has moved to the basement to live out his days in a medicated stupor, unable to cope with memories of his service in Iraq. Caught between the suffering of his mother and father, ten-year-old Willie fights the inherited demons that have savaged his parents' tenuous grasp on reality.

The somber drama surrounding the Augenbaughs plays out with a piercing and commanding lyrical beauty. Both transfixing and disconcerting, Steven Sherrill's empathetic portrait of alienation elicits hope and sympathy amidst shattered but no-less-dignified lives.