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Egypt, Maine #3
Merry Men
The Barringtons' clan wins a reputation for eccentricity with the behavior of Unk Walty, who constructs life-like and life-size sculptures of Egypt, Maine, residents. By the author of The Beans of Egypt, Maine. 40,000 first printing. $50,000 ad/promo. Tour.
695 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1994
1 person is currently reading
259 people want to read
About the author
Carolyn Chute
13 books111 followersChute's first, and best known, novel, The Beans of Egypt, Maine, was published in 1985 and made into a 1994 film of the same name, directed by Jennifer Warren. Chute's next two books, Letourneau's Used Auto Parts (1988) and Merry Men (1994), are also set in the town of Egypt, Maine.
Chute also speaks out publicly about class issues in America and publishes "The Fringe," a monthly collection of in-depth political journalism, short stories, and intellectual commentary on current events. She once ran a satiric campaign for governor of Maine.
Her job career has included waitress, chicken factory worker, hospital floor scrubber, shoe factory worker, potato farm worker, tutor, canvasser, teacher, social worker, and school bus driver, 1970s-1980s; part-time suburban correspondent, Portland Evening Express, Portland, Maine, 1976-81; instructor in creative writing, University of Southern Maine, Portland, 1985.
She now lives in Parsonsfield, Maine, near the New Hampshire border, in a home with no telephone, no computer, and no fax machine, and an outhouse in lieu of a working bathroom. She is married to Michael Chute, a local handyman who never learned to read; they have a daughter, Joannah, and several grandchildren.
- from Wikipedia
Chute also speaks out publicly about class issues in America and publishes "The Fringe," a monthly collection of in-depth political journalism, short stories, and intellectual commentary on current events. She once ran a satiric campaign for governor of Maine.
Her job career has included waitress, chicken factory worker, hospital floor scrubber, shoe factory worker, potato farm worker, tutor, canvasser, teacher, social worker, and school bus driver, 1970s-1980s; part-time suburban correspondent, Portland Evening Express, Portland, Maine, 1976-81; instructor in creative writing, University of Southern Maine, Portland, 1985.
She now lives in Parsonsfield, Maine, near the New Hampshire border, in a home with no telephone, no computer, and no fax machine, and an outhouse in lieu of a working bathroom. She is married to Michael Chute, a local handyman who never learned to read; they have a daughter, Joannah, and several grandchildren.
- from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews
January 20, 2010
This is a haunting book. At first, it seems like it's going to be the stories of a motherless son, Lloyd Barrington, and a fatherless daughter, Gwen Curry, growing up in little rural Egypt, Maine in the 1960's, and the ways that their surviving, larger-than-life parents' expectations about what it means to be a man or a woman misshape their lives. Soon, however (relatively speaking, in a 650-page book), we meet lots of other characters, most of whose lives intertwine with all of the others--and all of them affected by the way that traditional ways of making a living like farming and logging had been taken over by corporate agribusiness by the 1990's, when this book was written. "Merry men," of course, were the companions of Robin Hood, and Lloyd grows up to practice his own version of robbing from the rich and giving to the poor. To her credit, the author only occasionally romanticizes him--more often, she shows us how what he does makes sense without ultimately making a difference. Two of my favorite characters don't emerge until the middle of the book: Carroll Plummer, a recovering alcoholic, and his much younger wife, Anneke, who writes endless protest letters to officials out of sheer disbelief that the authorities can be as unfeeling and stupid as (in author Carolyn Chute's world) they unfailingly are.
What is this strange, sprawling book? A blurb by Madison Smartt Bell on the back cover compared it to the entire Faulkner canon in one volume. I think of Dreiser's An American Tragedy. I also read it as an introduction to a culture that I know very little about, and which may be dying out, but has been just as much a part of America as the immigrant experience in which my family is rooted. At times, it's a political tract counseling despair about Big anything and urging faith in small, local communities. That's a faith that attracts me, but I know that as a Jew I would be a stranger in this Egypt forever. At other times, this book feels like the rhythm of life, where people come and go and you never know who will turn out to be important in the end, and there are no happy endings, only people who live to tell the tale. This not a book to read when you're feeling low, unless your misery loves company. It is a book to read if you find yourself tempted to dismiss people as passive or apolitical when they are just struggling to salvage some dignity in their personal lives.
What is this strange, sprawling book? A blurb by Madison Smartt Bell on the back cover compared it to the entire Faulkner canon in one volume. I think of Dreiser's An American Tragedy. I also read it as an introduction to a culture that I know very little about, and which may be dying out, but has been just as much a part of America as the immigrant experience in which my family is rooted. At times, it's a political tract counseling despair about Big anything and urging faith in small, local communities. That's a faith that attracts me, but I know that as a Jew I would be a stranger in this Egypt forever. At other times, this book feels like the rhythm of life, where people come and go and you never know who will turn out to be important in the end, and there are no happy endings, only people who live to tell the tale. This not a book to read when you're feeling low, unless your misery loves company. It is a book to read if you find yourself tempted to dismiss people as passive or apolitical when they are just struggling to salvage some dignity in their personal lives.
November 28, 2010
an incredible countr usa novel. like joyce carol oates or "marleybone marble company" (whos radical precher VISITS maine and tells them about a "better", older way of living, the only anecdote to captialism is to be local.) and like the best novel of 2010 "agaat", place is 110% of us humans existence, like all the sounds, trees roaring, local geography, local food, lloyd the fox and gwen and alleka and just fill in your friends name, are trying to live in this world we have made. and its a fucked up world ya gotta admit. it is imperative taht you read "the old weird america"" chapter in the book "the old weird america" by greil marcus 9who by the way has just written a new american literature book and its a fucking masterpice)because it some weird wqays bob dylan helps you understand rurual novels. if you have ever cared about one grain of sand you have smelled between your fingers, then you must read both these novels ( and listen to the fiction while doing so) because super tree man could change your life. it did mine. i forgot to say, both these books are about 700 pages, so, i dunnno, its totally worth it, you sorta wish there were MORE pages, and then, things sorta of start falling in place, big-picture, militarycapital complex, geo-view sort of a outlook, but also how important it is to live in the place you live. sounds corny, but true too. but also to MAKE CONNEXIONS where you live. while im writing this the trees are raoring with wind. them so recently denuded from kick ass fall reds and oranges and outrgeous yellows with pecans falling for you to just pick up and eat, singing as loud as 6music sturat marconi 'freak zone' at #9 on your netbook bullshit speaker(s), THAT'S HOW loud the trees are in the neighborhood, even the cedar waxwings are still enjoying the pertanaural warm gale, and singing in it, with joe strummer adjoining. well anyway what im sayin is its a comitmnet and could just very well re-commit your mind to what we have here, which is the earth and all that lives here, even rocks, or more say, THE ROCKS FIRST, and trees of course, they are first too. so they are novels about rocks and trees, and they things that live on them, under them. so when you read these novel, YOU start living whit these sef-same trees in the novels, but also the trees in your OWN LIFE. its cool too how they talk about the internet, in 1994 usa, and 1994 south africa. in the country, the county of faulnker, and aO WILSONS, 'ANTHILL" , well. just warning you and encouring you to read these novels soon cause it seems to EXPLAIN a lot of how it is today. nov 28 2010
March 26, 2012
Happily, I came late to Carolyn Chute’s Merry Men. I had read three of her previous novels—The Beans of Egypt Maine, Letourneau’s Used Auto Parts, and The School on Heart’s Content Road, but had put off reading this one because of its size and the time commitment required. Coming back to Egypt, Maine, a compelling world in Chute's other books, was a great satisfaction; delving headlong into the lives of these new characters—and at such length—brought the kind of pleasure that reading was made for, the pleasure of utterly losing oneself to the capable storyteller. And Chute is most definitely that. The dictum “write what you know” has its critics and shortcomings, but when a writer is able to inhabit her narrative this thoroughly, it is because of her intimate understanding of the world she’s creating.
What this novel does best, in my opinion, is set a grand stage for the human comedy. It situates the reader in a given place—such as Moody’s Variety & Lunch—and then populates it with a myriad of characters who act out their parts. Moody’s has its Greek chorus of “old wise men” who tend to dispense “wisdoms” about such banalities as ice fishing and roads. But, seated in their carnival-colored rockers, the old wise men also act out groupthink, serving as mouthpiece to the social contracts exacted by the town—be they bigoted, inclusive, prosaic or ennobled. Same with the family table where young Lloyd Barrington grows up with his widowed father, two grandfathers, and six unmarried “unks.”
Tragedy and comedy are inextricable in life and in Carolyn Chute’s work. If you look for a reading experience that transports you into another world and relentlessly keeps you there, do yourself the favor of reading Merry Men.
What this novel does best, in my opinion, is set a grand stage for the human comedy. It situates the reader in a given place—such as Moody’s Variety & Lunch—and then populates it with a myriad of characters who act out their parts. Moody’s has its Greek chorus of “old wise men” who tend to dispense “wisdoms” about such banalities as ice fishing and roads. But, seated in their carnival-colored rockers, the old wise men also act out groupthink, serving as mouthpiece to the social contracts exacted by the town—be they bigoted, inclusive, prosaic or ennobled. Same with the family table where young Lloyd Barrington grows up with his widowed father, two grandfathers, and six unmarried “unks.”
Tragedy and comedy are inextricable in life and in Carolyn Chute’s work. If you look for a reading experience that transports you into another world and relentlessly keeps you there, do yourself the favor of reading Merry Men.
January 10, 2009
This book, to me, was the richest, most perfect embodiment of what writing and storytelling (and reading) mean to me than anything I've ever read since reading The God Of Small Things.
Read this book.
(Especially you, cousin Jeci!)
Read this book.
(Especially you, cousin Jeci!)
May 2, 2023
This was a long and difficult read. Everything felt disjointed and I had no sense of the actual plot except that Lloyd is some sort of vigilante. It was surprisingly entertaining at times though.
Read
March 3, 2025Another stellar composition from Carolyn Chute. Please (pleeeeeeeze) read this one. Each new entry in the Egypt, Maine series unfolds perfectly from the last, and Merry Men is the grand escalation AND culmination of it all, choosing to stride openly in both the sunlight and the shadow of an active extinction, a high tide, the churning cycle of life and decay.
There has always been a sense that we’re reaching the end. I don’t want to hand the wheel directly over to recency bias. The end has been happening since the beginning, in overlapping currents, dilating outwards rather than progressing forwards, both static and in constant flux. The end is really many ends and many beginnings. But I will note that I see, now, that there’s been something swelling, some uncontrolled node of exponential growth spinning faster and faster. Maybe it’s no more or less than it always has been, but it’s starting to lodge itself into quite a noticeable position.
Going to quote extensively from Kurt Vonnegut’s collection of essays and opinions that I, fortuitously, serendipitously, was reading at the same time:
“People want lives in folk societies, wherein everyone is a friendly relative, and no act or object is without holiness. Chemicals make them want that. Chemicals make us all want that.
Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again. If we become increasingly wild and preposterous in modern times — well, so do fish on river banks, for a little while.
Our children often come to resemble apathetic fish — except that fish can't play guitars. And what do many of our children attempt to do? They attempt to form folk societies, which they call ‘communes.’ They fail. The generation gap is an argument between those who believe folk societies are still possible and those who know they aren't.
Older persons form clubs and corporations and the like.
Those who form them pretend to be interested in this or that narrow aspect of life. Members of the Lions Club pretend to be interested in the cure and prevention of diseases of the eye. They are in fact lonesome Neanderthals, obeying the First Law of Life, which is this: ‘Human beings become increasingly contented as they approach the simpleminded, brotherly conditions of a folk society.’”
There has always been a sense that we’re reaching the end. I don’t want to hand the wheel directly over to recency bias. The end has been happening since the beginning, in overlapping currents, dilating outwards rather than progressing forwards, both static and in constant flux. The end is really many ends and many beginnings. But I will note that I see, now, that there’s been something swelling, some uncontrolled node of exponential growth spinning faster and faster. Maybe it’s no more or less than it always has been, but it’s starting to lodge itself into quite a noticeable position.
Going to quote extensively from Kurt Vonnegut’s collection of essays and opinions that I, fortuitously, serendipitously, was reading at the same time:
“People want lives in folk societies, wherein everyone is a friendly relative, and no act or object is without holiness. Chemicals make them want that. Chemicals make us all want that.
Chemicals make us furious when we are treated as things rather than persons. When anything happens to us which would not happen to us in a folk society, our chemicals make us feel like fish out of water. Our chemicals demand that we get back into water again. If we become increasingly wild and preposterous in modern times — well, so do fish on river banks, for a little while.
Our children often come to resemble apathetic fish — except that fish can't play guitars. And what do many of our children attempt to do? They attempt to form folk societies, which they call ‘communes.’ They fail. The generation gap is an argument between those who believe folk societies are still possible and those who know they aren't.
Older persons form clubs and corporations and the like.
Those who form them pretend to be interested in this or that narrow aspect of life. Members of the Lions Club pretend to be interested in the cure and prevention of diseases of the eye. They are in fact lonesome Neanderthals, obeying the First Law of Life, which is this: ‘Human beings become increasingly contented as they approach the simpleminded, brotherly conditions of a folk society.’”
December 30, 2022
"In 1985 The Beans of Egypt, Maine came into this world, the unique creation of Carolyn Chute. A microcosm, Egypt instantly became _____ in America's fictional landscape. Three years later _____ Letourneau's Used Auto Parts gave us a further -- and broader take ____ in miniature. Now Merry Men presents Egypt, Maine in a grand scale. In this panoramic saga spanning four decades, Chute pulls out all the stops. She sets in motion a huge cast of characters led by Lloyd Barrington -- Super Tree Man at age 8-3/4 and modern-day Robin Hood at age forty-something -- involves them in a dazzling array of themes and subplots, and then deftly draws everything together in a climax 'so unsettling and improbable that it feels just like life.'
" 'Never less than enthralling and wonderfully readable,' Merry Men is 'an artful, trouble-making giant and a major American novel,' a book 'that will fit comfortably on the same shelf with Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath."
~~back cover
NB: the black spaces are because the design of the cover included paint splotches or scratches that completely obliterated some of the words.
Well, it certainly is a giant. And the climax is definitely unsettling and improbable." And gut wrenching. But on the whole, I don't think the book lived up to the hype. At times it seemed disjointed, and improbable, and although Lloyd Barrington is painted as a modern day Robin Hood, I don't think that shows up in the book, except by inference. And many of the subplots are difficult to imagine happening in real life.
So on the whole, although I did slog through all 695 pages, I wasn't very impressed.
" 'Never less than enthralling and wonderfully readable,' Merry Men is 'an artful, trouble-making giant and a major American novel,' a book 'that will fit comfortably on the same shelf with Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath."
~~back cover
NB: the black spaces are because the design of the cover included paint splotches or scratches that completely obliterated some of the words.
Well, it certainly is a giant. And the climax is definitely unsettling and improbable." And gut wrenching. But on the whole, I don't think the book lived up to the hype. At times it seemed disjointed, and improbable, and although Lloyd Barrington is painted as a modern day Robin Hood, I don't think that shows up in the book, except by inference. And many of the subplots are difficult to imagine happening in real life.
So on the whole, although I did slog through all 695 pages, I wasn't very impressed.
December 22, 2023
As I look through the comments I see some complaints to the effect that “Merry Men” is without a discernible plot. It is understandable that a reader might come to this conclusion. Chute does not hit one over the head with a plot, but it is not true that the book lacks one. It is actually a traditional novel with a plot that is driven by the passions and perceptions of the characters. And it is, furthermore, a brilliant and poetic novel comparable to the works of Dostoevsky. By poetic I mean that it brings invisible aspects of reality into language in an striking manner. So it is worth paying close attention to the narrative.
Let me share a couple of my thoughts about the plots in this novel which, imperfect as my understanding is, might be helpful to a sincere but somewhat overwhelmed reader. For it is an overwhelming work. The master plot consists of two major and a number of minor subplots. It is largely through the interaction between those subplots that the novel drills thorough the surface of reality into the underlying dynamics and issues that are being explored. One major subplot centers around Lloyd and his manner of dealing with some other people and with the larger environment. The second subplot focuses on Anneka and her relationships. A third, and perhaps less important subplot focuses on the shenanigans of Jeff, the son of Forest Johnson Jr., and a fourth one on the struggles of Merlin Soule and his family of girls.
The gold is there, and is worth digging for.
Let me share a couple of my thoughts about the plots in this novel which, imperfect as my understanding is, might be helpful to a sincere but somewhat overwhelmed reader. For it is an overwhelming work. The master plot consists of two major and a number of minor subplots. It is largely through the interaction between those subplots that the novel drills thorough the surface of reality into the underlying dynamics and issues that are being explored. One major subplot centers around Lloyd and his manner of dealing with some other people and with the larger environment. The second subplot focuses on Anneka and her relationships. A third, and perhaps less important subplot focuses on the shenanigans of Jeff, the son of Forest Johnson Jr., and a fourth one on the struggles of Merlin Soule and his family of girls.
The gold is there, and is worth digging for.
April 30, 2025
695 pages. Another marathon.
Why did I like this book? Well, it's about manliness and the lack of opportunity in Maine.
I think some of my kin were prototypes.
So there were a lot of men wearing multiple layers of plaid, working hard, not getting anywhere. And then they closed the mill. And the corporate logging lands are denuded. Dark.
Again, I rated this 4-stars, but would hesitate to recommend it to the average reader. Maybe Gary Morong should give it a read. I might suggest it to him, if I meet him this summer.
Why did I like this book? Well, it's about manliness and the lack of opportunity in Maine.
I think some of my kin were prototypes.
So there were a lot of men wearing multiple layers of plaid, working hard, not getting anywhere. And then they closed the mill. And the corporate logging lands are denuded. Dark.
Again, I rated this 4-stars, but would hesitate to recommend it to the average reader. Maybe Gary Morong should give it a read. I might suggest it to him, if I meet him this summer.
July 15, 2024
This is not a book with a strong storyline. Plot is only sporadically important. In fact, it is a book driven by character and place. These characters, though very human, do not transfer outside of their milieu very easily except via the book's strong social critique, which, because our capitalistic and generally anti-rural anti-middle class situation, translates everywhere (except the richest neighborhoods). That Chute cares deeply about her characters, rural Maine, and this country's confused sense of purpose infuses every page.
Also, infusing every page is her love of language and zest for expression, which are always colorful, entertaining, precise, and unique.
Also, infusing every page is her love of language and zest for expression, which are always colorful, entertaining, precise, and unique.
September 7, 2015
I read The Beans of Egypt, Maine decades ago, and Letourneau's Used Auto Parts when it came out, so this is my third Carolyn Chute book. She definitely has a unique voice and an effective, efficient writing style (even though this book is about 700 pages). She also has a tiny little piece of the world that she focuses on, and characters from all three books wander in and out of each others stories in a lovely way that i find reassuring. Continuity and all that. She tells stories from the lives of the working class, and the unemployed class, and highlights the lives of America's poor without resorting to sentimentality or cliche. Merry Men was more overtly political than her first two books, but not heavy-handed, at least from my leftist, anti-corporate point of view. There are a lot of characters in this book, so many that the author starts off by giving you permission to not try and keep them all straight. There are a lot of stories told as well, interwoven throughout the book, which spans 3 decades. Sometimes it was a bit frustrating to remember how things and people are related. I also liked some characters' storylines more than others. And I was slightly disappointed by the fact that, while some characters reached some kind of end point, others just didn't show up again. Left me wondering what had happened to them. But since, in real life i have trouble remembering how things are related, and i like some people's sorylines more than others, and some people from my past have left me wondering what happened to them, it seems Carolyn Chute has done a pretty fabulous job of imitating life on paper. I would recommend this book, unless you don't like stories that don't involve space aliens. One last thing - it's depressing. But beautiful.
March 18, 2014
Spoiler Alert: Some key plot elements may be revealed below.
Chute's 700-page epic brings the notorious Bean family back to at least peripheral focus as she reveals that an entire multi-faceted community is, indeed, her main character. Toward the end of this book, we learn that Earlene has made peace with Ruben Bean and continues to bear him many babies. In fact, the Beans take on a golden glow of lumpen-working class virtue and closeness to nature in contrast to the apparent cruelty of central character Lloyd Barrington.
Ruben Bean's rages and violence have nothing on Lloyd's methodical coldness, over a period of years, as he endeavors to confront his upper-class lover with the irregularities surrounding her father's death. Is class hatred and resentment his motivation? Or is he sincerely convinced that she must "see the body" (so to speak) in order to escape denial? Either way, the hapless little rich girl has a hard shock in store.
Would the lower-class heroines who thickly populate the the novel's numerous subplots approve of such cruel methods? I would say not, but Chute makes clear that women's views count for very little.
Chute's 700-page epic brings the notorious Bean family back to at least peripheral focus as she reveals that an entire multi-faceted community is, indeed, her main character. Toward the end of this book, we learn that Earlene has made peace with Ruben Bean and continues to bear him many babies. In fact, the Beans take on a golden glow of lumpen-working class virtue and closeness to nature in contrast to the apparent cruelty of central character Lloyd Barrington.
Ruben Bean's rages and violence have nothing on Lloyd's methodical coldness, over a period of years, as he endeavors to confront his upper-class lover with the irregularities surrounding her father's death. Is class hatred and resentment his motivation? Or is he sincerely convinced that she must "see the body" (so to speak) in order to escape denial? Either way, the hapless little rich girl has a hard shock in store.
Would the lower-class heroines who thickly populate the the novel's numerous subplots approve of such cruel methods? I would say not, but Chute makes clear that women's views count for very little.
May 15, 2011
I did not like the ending. To be honest Lloyd Barrington really pisses me off. I understand that he's making these grand statements. I also understand where Gwen Doyle went wrong. She entered his world, but not all the way. She didn't jump in wholeheartedly. She was still holding back. I also think that he was too tempted by her. Too tempted to leave the existence he had behind and enter into the world he was fighting against. I guess considering all the options it was the only ending that made sense. Still didn't like it. Still very angry at an imaginary character. Why did it have to be so personal when he attacked her? That part bothers me and for that reason I believe this book will knaw at me for a long time. No doubt the intent of the author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 9, 2012
Carolyn Chute's sentences are like hand-made furniture with carefully chiseled dove tail joints. This thick book packs in plenty of colorful whimsy but essentially it ends like a loud howl of agony. Written in the 90's, the message is similar to that of the Occupy Wall Street group concerning how people are being squashed like bugs by corporate greed and a failed health care system. It puts faces and personalities ( characters that you grow to care about after over 700 pages) onto some bad situations. I was spooked. This book Occupies your head. Problem is, not the right kind of people are reading it.
August 30, 2007
Um, I read this one because of reading the Bean's of Egypt book. It is huge...and still more of the same time of characters. I really liked some of the story lines that ran through it but it didn't have the resolution that I was looking for. It was such a long book and it just ended...I remember that I holed myself in my room for nearly a week reading it though. I was hoping for some redemption or a happy ending for at least one of the characters but....
March 20, 2012
I think I have to read it again soon. I hadn't thought about it for a long time until "Maine" came up in a trivia night recently. Then I remembered that before "A Fine Balance" this was one of the most powerful novels i've read.
January 28, 2014
the third of her Egypt Maine trilogy. A long book with a huge cast of characters. Characters that make you feel, see, taste what poverty feels like to her people. She is a champion of the poor. The opposite of Ann Rand in every way.
April 26, 2008
She writes well, but the characters and story don't really grab me.
August 5, 2012
For my money, this is the greatest book about Maine, ever. Period. Full stop.
January 28, 2013
I really tried to like this book - but it left me cold - in fact chilled - maybe someone else will have a different reaction. I took it back to the library - unloved.
February 27, 2013
Carolyn's best by far.
raw and real and terrifying and lovely. just as you would expect, but better. reeling in a good way. can't wait to teach this.
raw and real and terrifying and lovely. just as you would expect, but better. reeling in a good way. can't wait to teach this.
November 29, 2013
So.....slow.....and.....boring. Where's the plot? Couldn't finish it.
March 10, 2024
Cherished. One of my favorite books ever.
Read
September 14, 2018I can't rate this book. I read 554 of the 695 pages and had to stop. Too much animal torture and killing in the form of "hunting." I will say that like The Beans of Egypt, it is well-written with interesting and vivid characters with a strong sense of place.
Displaying 1 - 24 of 24 reviews