The All-American Industrial Motel
A Memoir
-
- £11.99
-
- £11.99
Publisher Description
This volatile memoir from Doug Crandell weaves a darkly comic and thoroughly heartbreaking coming-of-age tale set in 1990 as the author is about to graduate from college. With very few job prospects and in need of tuition money, he joins his father working at a ceiling tile factory in tiny Lagro, Indiana. As his father moves headlong into a midlife crisis—complete with a bad toupee and a penchant for drinking on the job—Crandell's mother struggles with depression and talks in the third person as she manages a fast-food joint, where she compels her crew to dress in homemade costumes. As the author struggles to finish his degree, he also fights the urge to stay where he is and end up a “lifer” like his father. But before long, the monotonous work takes its toll on Crandell, making him realize just how similar he and his dad are. From their joint substance abuse to their feelings about the coworkers they watch buried from asbestosis, the Crandell men struggle to find a way to communicate. This powerful book explores themes of modern manhood, hope, and the power of labor to bring together workers, families, and even macho men.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
This sharp, assured memoir, a follow-up to Crandell's childhood account Pig Boy's Wicked Bird, is a blue-collar work diary-as-coming of age trial, covering the summer of 1990 in Lagro, Ind. One credit shy of becoming his family's first college graduate, Crandell returns home to work in the ceiling tile factory where his father has worked since the family lost its farm. When he's not attending his Psychology of Sexual Behavior class an hour away, Crandell works 12-to-16-hour shifts alongside his father and the other imposing men of the Local 536 Paper Workers Union. The endless, numbing work at the factory leads Crandell to take up speed, a habit he shares with his father's long-time friend Jerry. Crandell's advancing drug dependence mirrors his father's struggle with alcohol and an affair, as well as the progress of asbestos-related illness in several factory men. Throughout, Crandell struggles with the idea of what makes a man: is it working with your hands? Can a real man make a living off words? And, perhaps most importantly, how do men comfort one another in times of grief? This sad, sharp memoir is graced with humor, hope, a strong sense of place and a winning narrator, making it a fine example of the form.
