Pink Houses and Family Taverns

A series of story-like pieces about life in the center of Illinois. Bradway is excellent at getting to the central truth of incidents and relationships. Particularly compelling are the pieces that deal with her family and their relationship to the rest of the human world. Also a compelling and dark story about the effect of industrial pollution on the river system. Pieces about rock and roll and experiences of the midwesterner outside of the midwest (LA, NYC). A beautiful stylist Bradway brings a caring perspective to her subjects. The essays are personal without that becoming the reason for the words.

This finely-wrought collection of personal essays poignantly renders life in the midwest that is not Chicago, not cornfields, not well-scrubbed, not Norman Rockwell. Bradway is neither nostalgic nor derisive but, rather, sympathetically honest, in the ways the best writers are of places they love and yet which often disappoint them. The essays, several of which originally appeared in such pinnacle magazines as The North American Review and Doubletake, mix memoir and journalism. She writes about herself, yes, but mainly about people and places sometimes out of sorts with each other and the world beyond. The Mellencamp echoes (and she devotes an essay to him) ring true, as does her lucid prose throughout. Interspersed among the essays are poignant and provocative photgraphs. Having grown up in an Iowa town myself, I recognize this place, these people, this voice. But my friends and my students, who have grown up in midwestern cities and cities beyond, recognize them, too. If you're seeking vapid romanticism or scathing contempt, skip this book. If you're wanting something authentically distanced, yet close enough to carry the tone of life as it is here and was, please read.