Pig Boy's Wicked Bird: A Memoir

by Doug Crandell

This gritty tragicomic memoir is set in one memorable year—1976, the Bicentennial, when Jimmy Carter ran for president and seven-year-old Doug Crandell lost two fingers in a farming accident. More than anything, Doug wants to shed his nickname, Pig Boy, and grow up to be a hog man like his father. His older brother Derrick reads pulp novels to him each night as he soaks his remaining fingers in Epsom salts. His brothers urge him to “flip the Wicked Bird” any time another child makes fun of his “lobster-red hand.” Doug shares his summer of healing in Wabash, Indiana, with humans and animals who’ve suffered life-changing traumas: a brutal grandfather gentled by stroke, a deaf dog with a deadly taste for pig’s ears, a tough-love mother coping with depression, a bevy of runt piglets saved from extermination. This is a story of love, loss, healing, and a family’s relation with the land they love and know that they will lose.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir

272 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2004

Reviews

[Meadow · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked this book. He grew up on a farm, a pig farm, but was not the hardy pig farming type. He is what I imagine I would be like if I lived on farm. Always crying over the runts and wanting to be tougher than I actually am.

[Marija · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book was a cute memoir of a young boy growing up on a farm, secretly raising the runt pigs that would otherwise be put to death. He has a farm equipment accident and spends the summer trying to care for his pigs and recover from some trauma from his hand. It is an interesting look into farming life of the 1970s. While the writing was funny and delightful, it didn't not keep my interest and it took many weeks for me to finish.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book for an American Literature class in college, and I really liked it. I would not have read it otherwise, but I'm glad I did. It's set in Indiana and tells a tale of childhood and family life on a farm. Even if you aren't familiar with the farm lingo, you can still enjoy the book because the plot is great and it goes by really quickly. You get to see the unity of a family and the things they go through just trying to survive. It's very relateable in many ways.

[Carole · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book! I loved reading about his boyhood adventures and the characters. I think without a doubt Doug Crandell has a great talent for storytelling. It is not the typical book because there is no moral, no romance, no real climax to the storyline. However, I was glued from cover to cover and could not put it down. Well done, quirky Doug!

[Sassacaia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I can't remember what made me put this book on my to-read list, as it's been there since I started writing the list down, long before Goodreads but I'm glad I did! It was sucked in to the story from the first page, literally, from Pig Boy's account of suckling from a sow!

[Amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book. It's a memoir about a guy looking back to his childhood on the farm. He has a farm accident and severely injures a couple of his fingers. It was a good read and I could relate to it, but it didn't blow me away.

[Linda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a girl from Wabash, IN, I was excited to see that someone else from my hometown is literate. It was a great read and fun to see familiar names and places referenced.

[Tonyia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was surprisingly good.

[Robin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoy this author

[Trudy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bittersweet memoir of sharecroppers in 1970s Indiana. Very realistic.

[Paula Schumm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lovely memoir of 1976 in the Midwest.