Population: 485: Meeting Your Neighbors One Siren at a Time

I read Truck by Perry before and remember many times when Perry’s unique ability to tell a story combined with his straight forward writing style made me literally laugh out loud while reading it. I just finished Pop. 485 and was expecting myself to react the same way. I was very wrong! While this book did have me laughing, what struck me most was the incredible honesty of Perry when describing situations during EMT calls. Things that affected him profoundly and quite probably we would all do well to ponder and not take for granted! EVERYONE needs to read this book! It will make you a wiser and better soul!

I'm a fussy reader and always have something to complain about with a book. Not this one. I was laughing hysterically one page, crying the next. The only thing I didn't like about the book is that it ended. I passed this on to some family members who raved about it as well. It's not just another book about a small town, and it certainly doesn't seem like a collection of essays like one synopsis said. I felt like I was walking in Michael Perry's shoes; sometimes not happily so. The book is emotional at times, realistic and oh so entertaining. He gives color and value to the mundane, his philosophical themes are sneaky, so you don't realize you're reading a book that can be existential. This book will never be stale. I will read it again and again. It'll leave you thinking about things for some time to come.

I am a former resident of the small town in Mike Perry's new book, Population 485. Thinking the book would be a humorous depiction of life in the midwest, I settled down for a light-hearted story. Though there was indeed some laughter, there was also tears and wisdom gained through Mike's insights on the meaning of life. This ranks as one of my favorite books and highly recommend it to everyone. I am now looking forward to his next book!

What a treat to find this great new book! This is a memoir by the most interesting character you could imagine. Michael Perry is a poet, a registered nurse, a trained EMT and a volunteer fire fighter. After years away from his small home town in rural Wisconsin, he returns and writes about the things that happen to him there. The result is a funny and often moving account of the things that are really important in life - with insights that can be gained only from a man faced daily with life and death situations. Perry has a beautiful cadence to his storytelling and makes the transition from laugh out loud storytelling to heart-wrenching tragedies seamlessly. I swallowed the book whole and marked up my copy with underlined quotations and margins full of stars of agreement. A definite must-read.

Lyrical, sometimes funny, often meditative observations on small-town life. This book is similar in flavor to Thomas Lynch's The Undertaking. The author's ruminations about his life, past and present, arise out of the emergency calls he responds to as a part his town's volunteer fire department and EMS response unit. While the subject matter may seem depressing, it certainly is much more about life, especially the well lived life, rather than death. Highly recommended.

This is a beautiful book. When you consider the subject matter, the tragedies of everyday life in a small town, this book risked being dark and depressing. I found it to be quite the opposite. Mike Perry finds the grace that can come from senseless accidents. Buy multiple copies and start handing them out to your friends. (I already wrote a review of this book but it never got posted, so if it ever turns up, I apologize for repeating myself.)

In one short paragraph, Michael Perry can summon the power to make you laugh, cry and think deeply about the human condition. His considerable powers of observation and description bring his town and his people to life - you find yourself looking for their pickups in the lane next to you. And you find them - because his people are your neighbors, your friends and strangers with the sound turned up too loud - you just never looked at them through Perry's volunteer fireman's goggles before. Buy two copies - one to read and one to save for that day, not too far off, when a first edition Michael Perry will be a thing to treasure.