Life On the Farm

Admittedly, I had one primary worry about our last Adult Book Club selection, Michael Perry's memoir Coop: A Year Of Poultry, Pigs and Parenting--namely, that people might not make it past the first chapter.  (I know of at least one individual who gave up before its end!)  Perry opens with a (pages long) description of the "farmer snort" method of blowing one's nose.  I'm not entirely sure why he chooses to begin in this way.  And I can see where it would be over-the-top for some readers, if not off-putting.  But those who spend a little patience on him as he develops his narrative will be rewarded in the end. 

At heart, Coop is a story about farms and families.  Perry's memoir moves back and forth between his current life with wife Anneliese, as they raise daughters Amy and new baby Jane, and his own life growing up on a farm.  My favorite section is undoubtedly Chapter 5 which describes the at-home birth of Jane.  Perry's recounting is touching, beautiful, vivid, inspiring.  But my overall impression of the work always comes back to Perry and his relationship with daughter, Amy.  Amy is present in nearly everything Perry experiences, and its her presence and free-spirit which gives awareness and meaning to the very simple pleasures of farm life which he describes.  Perry is nostalgic in these moments, but with the mark of a great writer, he never over-sentimentalizes.  A good read for anyone who's ever lived on a farm, raised a family or just has a natural curiosity.