Truck: A Love Story by Michael Perry

Truck: A Love Story, by Michael Perry, (New York: Harper Perennial; 2007), 320 pages.

This is not a love story about a man that falls in love with his International Harvester pick-up truck, as the title and cover may suggest. Rather, it is a book about the year in the life of a writer living in rural Wisconsin. This is not as dull a subject as it may seem at first glance. Please be assured that it’s also not a book of endless pages about a man (Perry) sitting at a desk pecking away at a keyboard. Perry has an active life: he grows his own vegetables, volunteers for the local fire brigade, travels around the United States promoting his books; is active in the community and falls in love. With the changing of the seasons, Perry’s garden grows, his love of a woman develops and deepens, and the restoration of his International Harvester pick-up truck inches towards completion. By the end of the book the author manages to leave the reader strangely satisfied: the truck is restored, and Perry gets married and lives happily ever after in rural Wisconsin living his charmed life developing more material for his next autobiographical book.

This is not a book solely about restoring a truck, nor is it solely about romantic love: its more nuanced and sublime than that. These subjects are major parts of the book, but are not the sole story lines. This book is a reflection on life in rural America by a man with deep roots in his community. Perry lives an active and full life. His work, both volunteered and paid keeps him busy as does his participation in social life of his small town and his engagement with his family. Perry’s life has many facets, and all of them shine in this surprisingly enjoyable book. Perry has no claim to fame to propel sales of this book; he has no widely known notable achievements other than his ability to write autobiographical books that sell well due to them being good books. This touching and humorous book demonstrates the nobility of a man’s ordinary life lived in a small rural Wisconsin community, the virtue of work and marriage, and the love of family, friends and community.