Helpful Score: 1
If you think there are a slew of Beans in Egypt, Maine, then you ought to get a load of the Letourneaus who inhabit the town and Miracle City, just down the road. It all begins--and ends--with Big Lucien, who marries a lot and sires a lot. He runs the only going business around, Letourneau's Used Auto Parts, so by blood or money, he's pretty much got everybody by the neck. Everybody includes E. Blackstone Babbidge, a God-fearing man with a heart of stone; little June Marie, who's brightly in business for herself; Ernie Train, the country music star who never should have come home; and the hippie woman, who literally can't draw flies but has her long hair set for Norman, who slowly reveals himself to be as human as any other Letourneau. Carolyn Chute has once again made a tiny corner of the world her own, a kind of Oz turned upside down, complete with wizard. It is a kingdom of blood and dirt and sweat and sperm, a land with a rage to live.
author also wrote The Beans of Egypt, Maine
